White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is defending President Donald Trump’s efforts to make the government “good stewards” of taxpayer dollars as criticism over Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency pours in from Democrats.
Musk sparked criticism from Democrats after DOGE effectively shut down USAID on Monday. This action is one of many the administration has taken to cut “waste and abuse” out of the federal government, Leavitt said.
“What President Trump and Elon Musk and this entire administration is trying to do is make our bloated bureaucracy here in Washington run like a profitable business, and every agency has been tasked with going line by line and ensuring that the American taxpayer’s money is aligned with the American people’s interests,” Leavitt told “America Reports” on Thursday.
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![Donald Trump speaking with Elon Musk](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/12/1200/675/0d1a9e5e-trump-and-musk.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks with Donald Trump during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. ((Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images))
The press secretary explained that the administration is offering a commonsense solution to “a decades-old problem of bloated bureaucracy, waste, fraud and abuse.”
This decision comes as more than 40,000 federal government employees have agreed to Trump’s buyout offer, an effort to bring federal employees back into the office.
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“President Trump continues to deliver on the promises that he made to the American people on the campaign trail, and going through the federal government line by line and making this government more efficient is one of those priorities and one of those promises that President Trump made.”
Leavitt ensured that Trump is “wholeheartedly committed to spending cuts” and “making the government more efficient.”