{"id":2400416,"date":"2025-02-07T15:59:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T20:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-doge-will-audit-pentagon-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T16:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T21:00:04","slug":"trump-says-doge-will-audit-pentagon-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-doge-will-audit-pentagon-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says DOGE will audit Pentagon &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-says-doge-will-audit-pentagon-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2400416&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former President\u200b Donald \u2063Trump has instructed \u2063Elon musk \u200cadn \u200bthe Department of \u2063Government efficiency to target specific federal agencies for audits and evaluations, with the Pentagon being a priority for upcoming reviews. This directive follows criticism of Musk\u2019s involvement alongside \u2063the Trump management regarding perceived\u2063 wasteful spending\u200c by the U.S. Agency for International Development \u2062(USAID). Trump suggested \u2062that \u2063the government could significantly downsize USAID, maintaining only a fraction of\u2063 its current employees.<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference, Trump emphasized Musk\u2019s capabilities and his role in identifying\u200b areas of fraud and waste across government departments,\u200c including education and\u200d military sectors. Secretary of Defense Pete\u200d Hegseth indicated that \u200dsome programs \u2063might potentially be re-evaluated \u2064for efficiency. Trump also mentioned concerns about data \u200bsecurity regarding how easily Musk\u2019s \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">team \u2064accesses\u2064 personal\u200c taxpayer facts<\/a>, while\u2062 giving support\u200c to \u200bMarko Elez, a resigned engineer from Musk\u2019s team, who previously faced scrutiny\u200d over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-fcc-nominee-sits-on-board-of-group-that-opposes-anti-sex-trafficking-efforts\/\" title=\"Biden FCC Nominee Sits on Board of Group That Opposes Anti-Sex Trafficking Efforts\">past <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-this-average-american-is-voting-for-donald-trump\/\" title=\"Why This Average American Is Voting for Donald ...\">social media posts<\/a><\/a>. Vice President \u2064JD Vance has also advocated for Elez&#8217;s return to\u200c work.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump points Musk to targets in federal government with Pentagon up next<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1983932\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a> said Friday that he is directing Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to target specific government departments and agencies, with the Pentagon set for a review in the near future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Musk and DOGE have ignited sharp criticism in recent days after their audits led Trump to take steps toward shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Trump administration claims the agency spent millions of taxpayers&rsquo; dollars on wasteful projects around the globe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3314097\/trump-ordering-review-federal-ngo-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>TRUMP ORDERING REVIEW OF ALL FEDERAL NGO FUNDING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reports indicate Trump plans to house a significantly slimmer international development team within the State Department, with less than 300 of the more than 10,000 USAID employees being kept on by the government.<\/p>\n<p>The president did not say during a Friday press conference if he had told Musk there are specific agencies or departments DOGE &ldquo;cannot touch&rdquo; but confirmed that an audit of the Pentagon would soon be underway.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell him to go here, go there. He does it. He&rsquo;s got a very capable group of people, very, very, very, very capable. They know what they&rsquo;re doing,&rdquo; Trump stated. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve instructed him to go into education, go into military, go into other things as we go along, and they&rsquo;re finding massive amounts of fraud, abuse, waste, all of these things.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I will pick out a target, and I say, &lsquo;Go in,&#8217;&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;There could be areas that we won&rsquo;t, but I think everything&rsquo;s fertile.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also indicated certain programs or projects could be cut in the future during his Friday townhall at the Pentagon with military personnel.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of programs around here that we spend a lot of money on that, when you actually war game it, don&rsquo;t have the impact you want them to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One of the benefits I have is &hellip; I don&rsquo;t have any special interests. I don&rsquo;t have a background invested in any systems or services. I&rsquo;m agnostic to that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The former Fox News host said he&rsquo;s &ldquo;prepared&rdquo; to &ldquo;take a lot of arrows,&rdquo; in his effort to shake things up at the department.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need the best systems in the hands of war fighters,&rdquo; Hegseth added.<\/p>\n<p>The president claimed during his press conference that he wouldn&rsquo;t touch Social Security benefits but acknowledged that Musk and his DOGE team can get access to taxpayers&rsquo; personal information and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of ... ...\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">social security numbers<\/a> quite easily.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Why does DOGE need all of that?&rdquo; a reporter asked Trump.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t, but they get it very easily,&rdquo; Trump replied. &ldquo;And we don&rsquo;t have very good security in our country, and they get it very easily.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump did throw his tacit support behind Marko Elez returning to work for DOGE. Elez, one of Musk&rsquo;s 25-year-old &ldquo;engineers&rdquo; who had been working on the audits of federal offices, resigned earlier this week after his history of social media posts had been unearthed by news outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Friday, Vice President JD Vance said on X that Elez should be allowed to return to his work at DOGE.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t know about the particular thing, but if the Vice President said that,&rdquo; the president responded when asked about Elez&rsquo;s resignation. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m with the Vice President.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>You can watch Trump&rsquo;s comments in full below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"jMiAE9X-Wig\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"President Trump Holds a Press Conference with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jMiAE9X-Wig?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><em>Mike Brest&nbsp;contributed&nbsp;to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1983932\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1983932\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump directs Musk to focus on federal agencies, starting with the Pentagon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2400417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/trump-doge.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4261,23466,3761,3634],"class_list":["post-2400416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-audit","tag-doge","tag-pentagon","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/trump-doge.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400420,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400416\/revisions\/2400420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}