Following the extraordinary joint press conference by President Trump and Elon Musk from the Oval Office (see Elon Musk Goes on the Offensive From the Oval Office, and His Kid Steals the Show – RedState), the press went on the offensive against Musk’s claims of transparency and finding billions of dollars in fraudulent or erroneous payments by the US Treasury.
The New York Times led the pack with a story headlined, “At Oval Office, Musk Makes Broad Claims of Federal Fraud Without Proof.” What’s notable about the story is that it makes that claim, as they say, without proof.
The billionaire Elon Musk said in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance on Tuesday that he was providing maximum transparency in his government cost-cutting initiative, but offered no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy had been corrupted by cheats and officials who had approved money for “fraudsters.”
That’s it. That’s the proof that Musk had no proof. If you review the transcript, you’ll see that it was Trump claiming billions of dollars in fraud averted, not Musk, and no one ever asked either man for proof. I’d also note that the lead reporter on this was the detestable Maggie Haberman, who Trump tried to woo during his first administration with an exclusive interview that she turned into a vitriolic screed of a book. I really hope he’s learned his lesson and realizes the press is still out to destroy him.
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Making matters even worse, this story ran a week after another New York Times story admitted there was a few hundred billion in fraud in Treasury payments.
Seriously, why do you guys keep doing this? Everyone can see you’re lying. It’s pathological. https://t.co/AMlMvXRGJj
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) February 12, 2025
None of this is secret; the GAO admits it.
No area of the federal government is immune to fraud. We estimated that the federal government could lose annually to fraud.
Just to clarify, “between $233 billion and $521 billion” is not an estimate; at best, it is the statistical measure known as a WAG, a wild-assed guess.
In the past, the White House might have let this go by, but it came out blazing this time.
The New York Times erroneously wrote that there is no “proof” for “sweeping claims” of “fraud” in federal government spending.
Apparently, the Times and other like-minded outlets lack access to a newfangled research tool called Google.
The Government Accountability Office released a report just last year finding “No area of the federal government is immune to fraud. We estimated that the federal government could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud.”
President Donald J. Trump is determined to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and put an end to fraudulent and wasteful spending.
We’re seeing much more aggressive pushback on media lies by the White House and executive agencies. When Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin shopped a cheap Democrat attack on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called out the attack (see NEW: Pete Hegseth Slams Fox News Reporter for Parroting Democrat Talking Points – RedState) and did a victory lap when the story was debunked; see Round 2: Pete Hegseth Drops the Receipts After New AP Story Confirms the Truth on Residence – RedState). White House Press Secretary is becoming legendary for having “receipts” to prove points she is making; see Reporter Asks for Transparency From DOGE – So Karoline Leavitt Breaks Out the Receipts – RedState.
This kind of calling out by the White House will definitely increase the cost of peddling lies as news.
