President Donald Trump was joined by Elon Musk at the White House Tuesday to sign an executive order directing federal agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “significantly” reduce the size of government.
During the signing event in the Oval Office, Trump said Musk’s DOGE has already found “tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse” and vowed to root out systemic government corruption.
“Billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse. And that’s very important. It’s one of the reasons why I got elected. I said we’re going to do that. Nobody had any idea it was that bad, that sick, and that corrupt,” Trump told reporters from the Resolute Desk.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse … and it seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption." pic.twitter.com/TxSGFkZamr
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
“And it seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption especially when we found hundreds of millions of dollars worth. Much more than that, in just a short period of time. We want to weed out the corruption.”
“And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say ‘we don’t want you to do that.’ So, we may have to look at the judges because I believe that’s a very serious violation,” Trump added.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I can't imagine a judge saying you got elected to look over the country and make America great again, but you don't have the right to look and see whether or not things are right that they are paying or that things are honest." pic.twitter.com/gUBlUJ0FLY
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
The executive order also orders agencies to craft plans for “large-scale reductions in force” and outlines a “workforce optimization initiative” which would slash the size of government substantially.
Musk pointed out that the current governmental system is not a “democracy” but a “bureaucracy” because unelected bureaucrats are wielding more power than the elected government representatives.
“If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have? If the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives…then we don’t live in a democracy,” Musk said.
ELON MUSK: "If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have? If the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives… then we don't live in a democracy… It's incredibly important that we fix that…" pic.twitter.com/Xn5nE3IMPL
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
Musk went on to say that DOGE will investigate government officials who have a net worth disproportionately higher than their career salaries allow.
For example, Samantha Power, former head of USAID, saw her net worth explode to $30 million despite an annual salary under $250,000.
“We find it sort of rather odd that there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow manage to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position…We’re just curious as to where it came from,” Musk said.
.@elonmusk: "We find it sort of rather odd that there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow manage to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position… We're just curious as to… pic.twitter.com/IewBAi91u6
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
Trump agreed, saying he’s seeing “a lot of kickback here” with what DOGE has been uncovering so far in USAID, the Department of Education and FEMA budgets.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I see a lot of kickback here… because nobody could be so stupid to give out some of these contracts… I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do. We got elected to, among other things, find all of this fraud and abuse." pic.twitter.com/Cc4LxicjE9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
“I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do. We got elected to, among other things, find all of this fraud and abuse,” Trump added.
This comes after U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of President Obama, on Friday blocked DOGE from gaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
“A corrupt judge protecting corruption,” Musk said in reaction.
Watch the full White House event:
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