Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects Elon Musk to find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse at the Pentagon during an audit that the billionaire will lead.
“I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” Trump said in a Super Bowl interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, an excerpt of which was aired on Sunday morning.
“We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump said of the largest federal department.
The Pentagon’s budget is approaching $1 trillion per year. In December, then-President Joe Biden signed a bill authorizing $895 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Musk, who the White House says is a special government employee, has been tasked by Trump to lead an effort to slash the size of the U.S. federal workforce. As part of that initiative, Musk aides have sought access to confidential information in computer systems at various government agencies.
Critics say the efforts are likely illegal, risk exposing classified information and in practice are gutting entire agencies without congressional approval.
