We have arrived at the stage of DOGE derangement wherein the media are now poring over the words President Donald Trump uses in describing the ongoing program cuts across several government agencies. Quite frankly, we haven’t seen this much analysis over the definition of a word since Bill Clinton tried to question the meaning of what is is.
Watch the report’s intro and open, and haggling over “fraud” (click “expand” to view transcript):
CBS EVENING NEWS
2/18/25
6:35 PM
JOHN DICKERSON: A federal judge in Washington refused today to block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data. The judge said states suing Musk and DOGE had failed to demonstrate "clear evidence of imminent irreparable harm."
MAURICE DUBOIS: Musk and President Trump say DOGE's mission is to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. And The White House claims DOGE has uncovered fraud, at least as the administration defines it. Here’s Weijia Jiang.
WEIJIA JIANG: This is what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed to as proof when asked about the fraud that Elon Musk's team claims to have uncovered.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a DEI contract, $36,000 for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This is a $3.4 million contract, a council for inclusive innovation at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Oh, I love this one, $57,000 for climate change in Sri Lanka.
JIANG: When pressed if those are simply things that don't align with President Trump's policies, Leavitt said...
LEAVITT: I would argue that all of these things are fraudulent, they are wasteful, and they are an abuse of the American taxpayers’ dollar.
JIANG: Last night, DOGE posted on its website what it called a wall of receipts to show its findings to date. So far, it is identified roughly $14 billion worth of federal program cuts, including at least 140 DEI contracts and grants. But all the money allocated was approved by Congress. And DOGE did not provide evidence of a single case of fraud, or even alleged fraud.
Dickerson’s decision to not name the judge that denied the injunction sought against DOGE was interesting. The judge is a known quantity to viewers of “legacy media”, and featured prominently over the course of the last year. If they didn’t know where to look, they could’ve just gone on their own website:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a request for a temporary restraining order sought by 14 Democrat-led states as they pursue a challenge to Musk's actions.
This is the same Judge Chutkan who oversaw the weaponized prosecution of President Donald Trump over the events of January 6th. Omitting her name here removes weight from the ruling among those who lent great credibility to her rulings in the J6 matter.
On to DOGE: the popularity of President Trump and the idea of big cuts to government are forcing the media to try to litigate process. The cuts themselves are not bad, they’ll say, but the way in which they are done is problematic. Or some variant thereof.
Thus we have Jiang going to an expert, a former head of the Government Accountability Office, and got an earful.
WEIJIA JIANG: Dave Walker led the Government Accountability Office for a decade, the congressional nonpartisan watchdog that investigates how taxpayer dollars are spent.
DAVE WALKER: Most of the things that have been identified so far by DOGE represent waste and mismanagement, although waste is in the eye of the beholder. Very few things that they are talking about have risen to the level of being fraud. Fraud is illegal. On the other side, people who oppose DOGE are also using language that is inappropriate, saying that what they are doing is illegal or unconstitutional, without providing any support for that.
After weeks of asking for the receipts, the media got their receipts. Then, the shifts to “constitutional crisis” and faux concern over access to data and security clearances. Now to the meaning of fraud, in an attempt to cloud DOGE’s work.
Even if there is no demonstrated instance of fraud as of yet, the massive overspending on nonsensical programs could very easily be considered a fraud upon the American people led to believe that these expenditures are necessary or advance the interests of the United States.
There is little left for the DOGE-deranged media to do except cry about it and shift goalposts. That, and have a little struggle session over the meaning of “fraud”.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025:
JOHN DICKERSON: A federal judge in Washington refused today to block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data. The judge said states suing Musk and DOGE had failed to demonstrate "clear evidence of imminent irreparable harm."
MAURICE DUBOIS: Musk and President Trump say DOGE's mission is to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. And The White House claims DOGE has uncovered fraud, at least as the administration defines it. Here’s Weijia Jiang.
WEIJIA JIANG: This is what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed to as proof when asked about the fraud that Elon Musk's team claims to have uncovered.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a DEI contract, $36,000 for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This is a $3.4 million contract, a council for inclusive innovation at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Oh, I love this one, $57,000 for climate change in Sri Lanka.
JIANG: When pressed if those are simply things that don't align with President Trump's policies, Leavitt said...
LEAVITT: I would argue that all of these things are fraudulent, they are wasteful, and they are an abuse of the American taxpayers’ dollar.
JIANG: Last night, DOGE posted on its website what it called a wall of receipts to show its findings to date. So far, it is identified roughly $14 billion worth of federal program cuts, including at least 140 DEI contracts and grants. But all the money allocated was approved by Congress. And DOGE did not provide evidence of a single case of fraud, or even alleged fraud. President Trump and The White House keep conflating fraud, waste, and abuse. Does the distinction matter?
DAVE WALKER: It does matter, and frankly both sides are using terminology that is inaccurate and confusing to the public.
JIANG: Dave Walker led the Government Accountability Office for a decade, the congressional nonpartisan watchdog that investigates how taxpayer dollars are spent.
WALKER: Most of the things that have been identified so far by DOGE represent waste and mismanagement, although waste is in the eye of the beholder. Very few things that they are talking about have risen to the level of being fraud. Fraud is illegal. On the other side, people who oppose DOGE are also using language that is inappropriate, saying that what they are doing is illegal or unconstitutional, without providing any support for that.
JIANG: Last week, President Trump cited a GAO report which found the U.S. government could lose between 233 and 521 billion a year to fraud. But that data was collected from 2018 to 2022, when fraudulent covid payments soared.
How long does it take to find fraud? Can you find billions and billions of dollars in one month?
WALKER: It would be difficult to find billions and billions of dollars in one month because it, you know, you have to make a legal determination, which ultimately the courts decide. You can assert that something is fraud. But that doesn't mean that it is. It's ultimately a legal judgment.
JIANG: CBS News has repeatedly asked The White House for examples of the fraud it claims DOGE Has found. Officials referred us back to DOGE's website and social media accounts, and they did not make anyone available for an interview.
DICKERSON: So, Weijia, why is this distinction important between what’s merely waste and what is actually fraudulent?
JIANG: Well, Dave Walker worries that repeating fraud claims undercuts trust in the government by the public and critics are concerned that by alleging so much of it, Trump and his team have a license to take drastic measures at a breakneck pace without the proper oversight and transparency, which leaves room for error. Just tonight, the Department of Agriculture is scrambling to rehire staffers who are working on the response to the bird flu outbreak after they were accidentally fired.
DUBOIS: Okay. Weijia Jiang at The White House. Thank you.
