Musk referred to a report from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress that examines federal spending. In 2024, the office estimated there are $233 billion to $521 billion in fraudulent payments across the government per year.

The New York Times chronicled how Trump clipped Musk’s wings in a heated cabinet meeting last week. Cabinet heads, rather than Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, would take care of their own hiring and firing,