During Oval Office remarks Feb. 11, Trump said that their efforts to cut spending turned up “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse.”
Trump added: “We found fraud and abuse, I would say those two words as opposed to the third word that I usually use, but in this case, fraud and abuse.”
Trump and Musk used the word “fraud” or “fraudster” combined about a dozen times during their Oval Office question-and-answer session.
So far, neither Musk nor the Trump White House has shown evidence of criminal activity.Darned hard to prove:
The Government Accountability Office says waste is “using or expending resources carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.” Abuse is “behavior that is deficient or improper.” Fraud “involves obtaining something of value through willful misrepresentation” and is labeled after a legal process.
“Fraud is a very high legal standard,” said David M. Walker, who serves on the federal government’s Defense Business Board, which advises the Defense Department on business management.
To qualify as fraud, an activity has to be illegal with evidence of intent, which is “the most difficult thing to prove,” he said. (emphasis added)To clarify: in order to establish fraud, you must show an intentionally deceptive act or misrepresentation, which you intended the “victim” to rely on to their detriment, which they did rely on. And the bottom line:
Westbrooks reviewed the White House list of DOGE “wins” and said he saw no evidence of an intent to deceive.
“Waste is in the eye of the beholder,” he said. “Fraud, on the other hand, is determined by a court.” (again, emphasis mine)Much easier if you just claim you eliminated the fraud and there’s no more fraud now. Especially if you’ve fired all the inspectors general. Now no one will find any nasty old fraud you want to engage in, because you eliminated the fraud, remember? But is there another reason to fire the inspectors general?
The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency issued an annual report for 2023 that highlighted federal efforts to combat fraud, waste and abuse. The report showed that inspectors general work led to more than 4,000 prosecutions and that inspectors general identified nearly $93.1 billion in potential savings.
The findings resulted in about 3,000 suspensions, reprimands and terminations for federal contractors and federal, state and local employees.Who is a major contractor who is also making decisions in D.C.? 🤔
Guilty dog barks loudest."The fraudsters" https://t.co/biLL7c2450 pic.twitter.com/AbV9mvoAfx
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 20, 2025
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