In a groundbreaking series of remarks, President Trump hinted at the existence of a system of widespread kickbacks that corrupt politicians use to line their pockets. According to the president, some of the fraudsters have defrauded nations of billions of dollars, but promised that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would investigate the matter.
For context, Trump established DOGE in one of his earliest executive orders and charged the department with ending endemic fraud, waste, and corruption within the federal government. Initially led by Elon Musk, DOGE has slashed hundreds of millions in wasteful spending and continued to pursue vital work in his absence.
In any case, Trump’s remarks, which were initially made on February 12, 2025, began with harsh criticism of government fraud. He began, “There’s tremendous fraud. And it’s hard to believe that you can have that kind of fraud you’re talking about, like, are you talking about what? Wait, wait, which are you talking about, with regard to all of the investigations that are going on about the stupidity?”
Continuing his epic diatribe, Trump said, “What we’re going to do is tomorrow I’m having a news conference. I’m going to read to you some of the names that hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars have been given to. And if you tell me that we should be giving money to those things, those entities, I think you’ll probably have to leave as a reporter, because you’re not very talented.”
Still not done hammering the fraudsters, he said, “When you look at the kind of money, billions and billions of dollars being thrown away illegally, and there’s no chance. I mean, I say it in front of our attorney general, there’s no chance that there’s not kickbacks or something going on when you give millions and millions of dollars to somebody that stands to look at something for 15 minutes and walks away with millions of dollars.”
Expaining his reasoning, the president said, “That money is coming back in some form, and that’s only one form of corruption. The biggest thing is what they do to our country. They’re taking massive amounts of money and spending it on items. I went through a list of 200 expenditures that were made, and I found three that looked like they were reasonable, okay, three, and we’ll be talking about that tomorrow.”
Speaking to his close relationship with Musk, Trump added, “We have a lot of stuff, and I want to commend Elon, because he’s done a fancy he doesn’t need this, you know, he’s abused by you people every day. He’s found more things than anybody could find. I think he’s got the credibility to do it. I know he does, and it’s his group of people.”
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Concluding his remarks, President Trump showered praise on the entire DOGE team. He stated, “You know, they started off with 12. I call them 12 geniuses. They started off with 12, and they went to 20 and 25, and now they’re up to almost 100 people are joining to help them, because there’s a massive fraud that’s taken place.”
Featured image from embedded video