President Trump celebrated Elon Musk on Friday as the billionaire’s tenure as the White House’s chief cost cutter was ending.
The gathering, styled as a news conference in the Oval Office, signaled an end to a remarkable period of upheaval across the federal bureaucracy, supervised by Mr. Musk and the initiative he led, the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Elon has worked tirelessly, helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” Mr. Trump said, omitting that Mr. Musk fell far short of an oft-stated goal of achieving $1 trillion in savings.
Here’s a fact-check of some of their claims.
What Was Said
“We’ll remember you as we announce billions of dollars of extra waste, fraud and abuse.”
— Mr. Trump
This is exaggerated. In listing a litany of contracts and grants canceled by the cost-cutting initiative, Mr. Trump misrepresented several of them and omitted context about others.
He repeated the misleading claim that the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated a payment of “$59 million to a hotel in New York City” to house unauthorized migrants. The figure is the amount for a federal grant awarded to the city in the 2024 fiscal year, not the amount paid to one hotel.
He cited $45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma, using the former name for Myanmar. That was a 2024 initiative the United States Agency for International Development started after the 2021 military coup in the Southeast Asian country.
The scholarships funded Burmese students studying at universities in the Philippines and online at the University of Arizona. Though the total award was $45 million over five years, about $17 million had been obligated when the Department of Government Efficiency canceled the program.
Mr. Trump also mentioned “$42 million for social and behavioral change in Uganda,” likely referring to a $38 million contract awarded to Johns Hopkins University in 2020 to improve health outcomes in the country. Behaviors listed in the award included the correct use of mosquito nets and medicines to treat H.I.V. infections. When the Department of Government Efficiency canceled the contract in March, most of the money, about $36 million, had already been spent.
The “$40 million for social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants” Mr. Trump noted referred to a contract to help Venezuelans who migrated to Colombia.
He again overstated the link between a $1.9 billion environmental grant and Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia. A coalition of five groups received the grant, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, to decarbonize houses in low-income neighborhoods. Ms. Abrams served for one year as a senior adviser to one of the groups, and did not lead the organization.
Mr. Trump also again cited “$20 million for Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East,” adding wrongly that “nobody knows what that’s all about.” The award to Sesame Workshop was not to create a program, but to tailor an existing children’s show called “Ahlan Simsim” for local audiences, as well as to establish educational material for training and use in child care centers. Thousands of Iraqi children viewed the programming and participated in the training.
And he again described a body of research grants as “$8 million for making mice transgender.” In March, the White House published a list of about $8.3 million in research grants that aimed to study the efficacy of different medications on transgender people through experiments with mice receiving different hormones. None of the studies specifically sought to “make mice transgender.”
What Was Said
“So, I think the judge just ruled against New York Times for their lies about the Russiagate hoax, and that they might have to give back that Pulitzer Prize.”
— Mr. Musk
False. Mr. Musk dismissed new reporting by The New York Times on his drug use and tumultuous personal life by incorrectly describing a legal proceeding and the circumstances of a lawsuit.
The court in question did not, as Mr. Musk suggested, rule that The New York Times “lied” in its reporting about Russia. The New York Times is not a litigant in the lawsuit.
In 2021, Mr. Trump demanded that the board that awards the Pulitzer Prizes revoke its awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. When the board refused, Mr. Trump sued it for defamation.
In 2024, a state judge in Florida rejected the board’s move to dismiss the lawsuit. The board later tried to pause proceedings, arguing that because Mr. Trump was the president, the lawsuit could prompt a constitutional conflict. But a state court ruled this week that the lawsuit could proceed.
What Was Said
“It’s an unbelievable bill. It cuts your deficits.”
— Mr. Trump
False. The Congressional Budget Office and a number of independent analysts have estimated that the Republican domestic policy bill, passed by the House this month, would balloon federal deficits by more than $1 trillion, even when economic growth is factored in.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated an increase in the deficit of $3.8 trillion; the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated $3.1 trillion, including interest; the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated $2.8 trillion; and the Tax Foundation estimated $1.7 trillion when factoring in economic growth.
“Quite the opposite, this would be an incredibly large deficit increaser, adding $3 trillion to our nation’s borrowing and $5 trillion if the expiring policies are extended,” said Maya MacGuineas, the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Linda Qiu is a reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade.
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