Musk Reveals DOGE’s 5 Most Shocking Discoveries
As Elon Musk prepares to wrap up his tenure at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the billionaire entrepreneur sat down with Fox News’ Jesse Watters to share the five most astonishing examples of government waste his team uncovered.
DOGE was formed following an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Inauguration Day, with the bold mission of slashing $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Musk, who served as a “special government employee,” is bound by federal ethics rules that limit such roles to 130 days per year. As that limit approaches, with his term ending on May 30, Musk has already begun stepping back, according to Fox News.
Before he exits, Musk highlighted what he considers the worst misuses of taxpayer money unearthed during his short stint at the agency.
Taliban Ties
Earlier this year, DOGE revealed that the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) paid $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, a former Taliban official who once served as Afghanistan’s Chief of Protocol. The agency announced on March 31 that the contract had been terminated.
Halimi had been detained at Bagram Air Base by U.S. forces starting in January 2002, held for a year, and later held senior government roles in Afghanistan, including Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in 2020.
“A small agency called the United States Institute of Peace is definitely the agency we’ve had the most fight at. We actually went into the agency and found they had loaded guns inside their headquarters — Institute for Peace,” a DOGE staffer told Watters. “So by far, the least peaceful agency that we’ve worked with, ironically. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don’t encounter that in most agencies.”
COVID Funds Used for Vegas Trips
DOGE audits earlier this year uncovered that some school districts used portions of the $200 billion in COVID relief funding for questionable expenses, such as hotel stays in Las Vegas and even an ice cream truck, Fox News Digital reported.
One such case involved Utah’s Granite School District, which spent $86,000 on accommodations at Caesars Palace for a conference. Meanwhile, Santa Ana Unified in California reportedly paid $393,000 to rent a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report from Parents Defending Education shared by DOGE. Granite officials later defended the spending, claiming it supported professional development.
Additional findings included $60,000 used for swimming pool passes and a district in California that bought an ice cream truck using relief funds.
‘Sesame Street’ Funded in Iraq
Another example came from Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who leads the Senate DOGE Caucus and has worked closely with Musk. She disclosed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $20 million to Sesame Workshop to create a localized version of Sesame Street in Iraq.
The show, Ahlan Simsim Iraq, was developed to “promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups,” according to Ernst.
Massive Improper Payments
A March report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) supported DOGE’s efforts, revealing that federal agencies made $162 billion in improper payments in the most recent fiscal year. While the figure represented a decrease of $74 billion from the year prior, it still underscored serious inefficiencies.
The GAO found that 75% of these improper payments were tied to five major programs spread across the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicare/Medicaid, the Treasury, the Department of Agriculture, and the Small Business Administration.
DEI Spending Cuts
Donald Trump has made cutting funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives a priority during his campaign and presidency, promoting a return to merit-based systems.
DOGE has followed suit, announcing the cancellation of DEI-related contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in recent months.