When Donald Trump announced that he was bringing Elon Musk on board to be his budgetary DOGE attack dog in his second administration, it was one of the most promising moves in the direction of shrinking the federal government that this writer has seen in his lifetime. We hear a lot about government waste -- Twitchy highlights Rand Paul's Festivus list of grievances every year -- but we rarely see anyone, even on the right, DO anything about it. Even in Trump's first term, while he had a lot of wins, the government only grew larger.
Now that Musk has rolled up his sleeves and started getting to work, we're not sure America is even ready to see the extent of the corruption and waste that has been going on. Trump and Musk have both claimed that the number might be in the trillions, and some people have dismissed that claim as hyperbole. However, it has only been a few days, but we are seeing a full-on panic from the left and the Washington establishment about how much might get exposed.
It may have started small, with DOGE exposing that the government was spending $50 million sending condoms -- yes, condoms -- to Gaza. But it has already started to snowball. The highest-ranking official at the Treasury Department has resigned rather than agree to participate in an audit. And Musk provided a good reason why.
The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2025
They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
Not even once. https://t.co/kInoGWdw4C
That estimate from Trump and Musk doesn't seem far-fetched anymore, does it?
This weekend, Trump shut down USAID because we are now learning what that agency has been up to with an annual budget well over $40 billion. Twitchy will be reporting more about USAID today, but suffice it to say that Bill Kristol, unbelievably, was one of its recipients. It should be shut down for that reason alone.
Then yesterday, a new bombshell was dropped and it came from one of the last sources you would expect: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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NEW: Ukrainian President Zelensky says Ukraine has only received about $75 billion of the $177 billion in aid that was allegedly sent from the United States.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 2, 2025
"I don't know where all this money is… we never received it.”
What?pic.twitter.com/1SdtHCzm31
WHAT?
More than $100 BILLION ... disappeared. Poof. Abracadabra. Presto-chango, the money is gone-o.
Of course, we don't trust Zelensky as far as we could kick him, but maybe it's not so surprising that he is the one blowing the whistle here. He clearly wants to be in the good graces of the Trump administration; the last we heard from him, he was standing outside of Trump's window with a boombox like Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything, begging for an invitation to Trump's inauguration.
Even if Zelensky is exaggerating here, he's almost certainly not lying completely. It appears that Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, and many, many others have got some 'splainin' to do.
Biggest money laundering operation ever. It's almost like sending billions to one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, with no way to track it, isn't a great idea. pic.twitter.com/CztXIiTTTx
— MAZE (@mazemoore) February 2, 2025
We wonder how much of that $100 billion went to 'the big guy' (and how much may have gone to Zelensky's personal accounts, for that matter).
It's not like the U.S. Defense Department has never passed an audit in the past.
Oh, wait...
What's going on in Ukraine? Oh wait! pic.twitter.com/Wn4TrAQsAF
— Real Ben Garrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) February 2, 2025
Too many people in Washington (and in Ukraine) have their hands in that cookie jar. We've always known this, but it is still remarkable to hear it from one of the likely cookie thieves himself.
Odd Zelensky never mentioned this before Trump and Doge started tracking where the money goes and looking for receipts ...
— Tara Servatius (@TaraServatius) February 2, 2025
Yep. We get the feeling he knows the jig is up. If he blows the whistle, he probably thinks he can escape without accountability or consequence.
The recently pardoned Biden family has no comment. https://t.co/LSoKhZFBPa
— Pundit Review (@PunditReview) February 3, 2025
Those preemptive, blanket family pardons suddenly make a lot of sense.
We all know that money was laundered for American and Ukrainian politicians.
— The Flag Guy (@TheFlagGuy_) February 2, 2025
Lots of people need to go to jail.
Why else would Biden's pardons be retroactively dated back to 2014? This has been going on for a LONG time.
Well we know where at least 10% of the missing money went. pic.twitter.com/qI3QIedrFQ
— Dimitri (@MuricanMemez) February 2, 2025
Let's not put it all on Biden though, even though he and his family would almost surely be implicated in a full audit.
There are plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle who shamed Americans who opposed sending Ukraine every penny it asked for and then some. We might want to take a look at, say, Lindsey Graham's accounts, just to choose one example.
I’m glad I never voted for a single penny to Ukraine. https://t.co/em1J8hRZwG
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) February 2, 2025
If only more representatives in Washington put America first, like Burchett.
It's even worse when you consider that Senator Paul repeatedly tried to attach accountability metrics and an audit to Ukraine funding and both Democrats and Republicans voted him down.
Paul called Ukraine a corrupt regime and he was correct. But it looks like there may have been more than one corrupt regime involved here and we don't have to go halfway around the world to find the second one.
Maybe Trump and DOGE can interview former Deputy Press Secretary John Kirby, who assured Americans in 2023 that there was 'no indication' of widespread corruption in U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Zelensky claims $100+ BILLION of US military aid is missing. He claims that it was never delivered.
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) February 2, 2025
So where is it?
Something tells me our pro-Ukraine politicians know EXACTLY where that money is.
Just a hunch. pic.twitter.com/11w31ScT5j
That visual should -- and hopefully will -- come back to bite every one of those flag-wavers in Congress right in the tuchus.
Observe the timeline:
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) February 2, 2025
-Trump begins purge at USAID
-Trump fires USAID officials after resisting DOGE from accessing agency systems
-Elon unleashes barrage of posts about USAID corruption after DOGE gains access to said systems
-Zelensky claims $100+ BILLION is missing
Sounds… pic.twitter.com/52d05apLb8
The timeline cannot be a coincidence. The tweet above continues:
Sounds like Elon and Trump found something when auditing the paper trail. They found that the money is not going where it’s supposed to be going, and Zelensky knows the jig is up.
The USAID claims they sent $30+ Billion in direct budget support, and $23+ Billion in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022, amongst a plethora of other projects and contracts in Ukraine.
Where is all the money?
Oh, and just a reminder, this is taxpayer money -- OUR money -- they are 'misplacing.'
Does anyone still think Trump, Musk, and DOGE can't find up to (or more than) $1 trillion in government waste, fraud, and corruption?
The way things are going after less than one month of the Trump administration, and even less time in DOGE investigations, it's looking like that number might be a lowball.
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