US President Donald Trump stated in a Sunday address that Elon Musk, who is overseeing a mass reduction of US government employees, will assist in tracing 'hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud' within federal agencies.
In an upcoming pre-Super Bowl Fox News interview, Trump stated that the American public "want me to find" areas of inefficiency, and praised Musk, the world's wealthiest person and leader of the president's cost-cutting initiative, saying he has been "a significant help" in identifying and eliminating unnecessary expenditures.
"We will uncover billions, indeed hundreds of billions of dollars of embezzlement and graft. And, you see, it was on that platform that the people elected me," Trump said in interview excerpts published by Fox.
The head of state has issued a series of executive orders over three weeks in office aimed at significantly reducing government spending. He has tasked Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, with spearheading cost-cutting efforts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Although the administration has pointed out several government projects Trump believes should be terminated or limited, there is no indication of extensive instances of illegal vote tampering has been provided.
Elon Musk, a top donor and ally to Trump, has already taken extraordinary measures to dissolve the US Agency for International Development, resulting in the layoff of thousands of employees. The DOGE reform team has also sparked concern amongst critics by acquiring access to the personal and financial data of millions of Americans through the US Treasury.
On Friday, a federal judge temporarily halted the administration's plan to place 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave. A day later, another US judge issued an emergency order blocking DOGE from accessing Treasury Department payment systems that contain sensitive data on Americans.
Trump stated in his interview that over the next day or so, he will instruct Musk to shift his regulatory attention to the Department of Education, an entity frequently criticized by Republicans.
"Then I am going to the military," Trump said, repeating his call for a review of spending at the Department of Defense, whose budget totals approximately $850 billion.
Musk's roles are being criticized, in part, due to the large contracts his companies have with the US government, with a total exceeding $20 billion, as stated by US House Democrat Mark Pocan.
'Evisceration of democracy'
In response to whether he has faith in Musk to fairly identify and eliminate wasteful spending, Trump seemed to imply that the wealthy entrepreneur and his businesses do not profit financially from Musk's involvement with DOGE.
"He's certainly not making any progress," Trump said.
Democrats have sharply criticized Trump's various initiatives, with Senator Chris Murphy voicing his concerns on Sunday, calling them an "assault on the Constitution" and suggesting that Trump is paving the way for a "billionaire takeover of government."
The president wants to be able to decide how and where funds are allocated so he can favor his political allies and penalize his opponents. That's the destruction of democratic principles," Murphy told the ABC News show "This Week.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress, has repeatedly downplayed concerns that Trump is overstepping his authority or moving too fast in reshaping the federal government, including government agencies like USAID.
I am not uncomfortable with the speed of this," Johnson said to "Fox News Sunday.
The speaker, who is accompanying Trump to watch the Super Bowl from a luxury suite in New Orleans, described Musk as "an outside auditor," whose team is exposing "extraordinary cases of public finances being misused."