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Donald Trump said he would seek to cut billions of dollars from the Pentagon’s budget as the other major target in the effort led by Elon Musk to reduce spending from US government agencies.
In an interview on Sunday, Trump supported the push of Musk’s costs through the so -called “Government Efficiency Department” even when faced with increasing obstacles in federal courts and claims by Democrats that it is overcoming its powers.
Trump said Musk had been “scary” and a “great help” in clearing the federal government for possible spending cuts so far. He indicated that the Defense Department, which has an annual budget of about $ 800 billion, would be different in billionaire footage.
“Let’s check the army. We will find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. You know, people chose me for this, ”Trump said.
Musk’s potential role in clearing the Pentagon for savings has already raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given that his SPaceX companies and its Starlink subsidiary have contracts with the government.
But Mike Waltz, Trump’s National Security Adviser, issued those concerns in an interview with NBC. He said “all the appropriate firewalls” would be in place to prevent any conflict, though he did not provide further details.
“The American people have said a lot, with a lot of swelling and debris and debt,” Waltz said. “We need excellent minds and we need business leaders to get there and absolutely reform the Pentagon’s buying process,” he said.
With Musk in a major role, Trump’s second administration has aggressively moved to grind some federal programs and agencies to stop.
In a musk obstacle on Saturday, a Federal Court in New York temporarily blocked his team’s attempt to gain access to US Treasury Department payments, saying this could lead to the discovery of personal information of Significantly that can cause “irreparable damage” to Americans.
Democrats have increasingly crying hated.
“This is the most serious constitutional crisis that the country has faced, of course by Watergate,” ABC Democratic Senator, Democratic Senator from Connecticut, told the Democratic Senator.
“The president wants to be able to decide how and where the money is spent so that he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies. This is the evisions of democracy,” he added.
The most striking federal agencies include USAID, which administers foreign aid, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, whose employees were told Saturday by its director Russell Vought to dismiss virtually all their activities, including investigations and supervision. Trump has also pledged to eliminate the Education Department, which has long been a conservative Ire objective.
Republicans in Congress have stayed with Trump and Musk after they have moved to stop a wide range of federal programs, although the push has undermined the constitutional role of lawmakers in the authorization of spending.
Mike Turner, a Republican of Ohio, told ABC that the Trump administration had to get a “critical view” of American spending policies because the country’s fiscal route was “unstable”. But he also said Musk can move more artistically.
“He should, in a more professional way, communicate with the American public,” Turner said.
