By Jeff Mason and Andy Sullivan
President of the United States, Donald Trump, shared on Sunday that the nation’s debt might be lower than previously estimated. He suggested that this discrepancy could be due to fraudulent activities linked to debt payments. Trump relayed this information to journalists while en route to the Super Bowl in New Orleans aboard Air Force One.
As per the US Treasury, a key player in the global financial system, the current outstanding public debt of the United States stands at $36.2 trillion. Trump has assigned the task of a comprehensive overhaul of the federal government to billionaire Elon Musk, a move that has triggered protests on the streets of Washington and allegations of the Trump administration flouting the law.
Musk’s initiative, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” has disrupted operations in various federal agencies, sparking concerns over privacy and security as it delves into sensitive payroll and spending records. Trump hinted at potential issues with US Treasuries, stating to reporters on Air Force One, “There could be a problem – you’ve been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting problem.”
Expanding on the topic of Treasuries, Trump further remarked, “It could be that a lot of those things don’t count. In other words, that some of that stuff that we’re finding is very fraudulent, therefore maybe we have less debt than we thought.” Trump’s insinuation of potential fraud concerning US Treasuries raises questions about the actions Musk’s team may undertake in this regard.
A federal judge recently restrained Musk’s team from accessing government systems responsible for processing trillions of dollars in payments, citing concerns about the inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information. Post this ruling, Musk disclosed that the Treasury Department and DOGE had reached an agreement to mandate that all outgoing government payments include a rationale in the form of a comment, along with a categorization code.
Musk also noted the necessity of updating a do-not-pay list, comprising entities ineligible to receive government payments, on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, an appointee of President Trump, clarified last week that Musk’s team only possessed “read only” access to the payment system. Furthermore, he mentioned that decisions to halt payments would rest with other agencies.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Andy Sullivan; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Brad Brooks; Editing by Noeleen Walder)
