President Donald Trump said he’s had “great help” from Elon Musk in cutting government fraud and abuse, despite the fact he’s not “gaining anything” in the process.
During Sunday’s interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump pointed to Musk and his government efficiency team, DOGE, and his administrative privileges in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
“I’ve had a great help with Elon Musk, who’s been terrific,” Trump said, adding that in about 24 hours, he’s going to tell Musk to “go check” the Department of Education to find any “fraud and abuse” there.
“He’s going to find the same thing,” Trump said, seemingly referring to Musk’s post on X where he wrote that Treasury staffers told him there was about $50 billion of “unequivocal and obvious fraud.” He did not, however, provide any proof of that.
And Musk’s access was blocked by a federal judge Saturday.
Asked by Baier if Trump trusts Musk, Trump evades the question and responds with, “Trust Elon? Oh. He’s not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it, he’s so into it.”
Trump may or may not trust Musk, but he does disagree with the judge’s block on the Department of Government Efficiency accessing data from the Treasury Department.
“I disagree with it 100%,” Trump told Baier. “I think it’s crazy, and we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud waste abuse, all the things that have gone on in the government. You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there … We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going.”
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Trump also spoke briefly about the tariffs he threatened on Canada and Mexico after Baier asked him when Americans will start to see inflation go down.
“No, I think we’re gonna become rich… look, we’re not that rich right now,” Trump said. “We owe $36 trillion. That’s because we let all these nations take advantage of us. Same thing, like, $200 billion with Canada. We owe $300 [billion], we have a deficit with Mexico of $350 billion. I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna let that happen.”
Trump’s interview with Baier aired Sunday before he is set to attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Trump will be the first sitting president to attend football’s biggest game, a fact that surprised him, adding that the country has “taken on an all-new life” and he thought it would be a “good thing for the country” to have the president there.