Bannon's War Room - Episode 4298： DOGE Subcommittee And President Trump's First Cabinet Meeting Of Second Term

00:00:01.000 This is the primal scream of a dying regime.

00:00:06.000 Pray for our enemies,

00:00:08.000 because we're going medieval on these people.

00:00:11.000 I got a free shot at all these networks lying about the people.

00:00:15.000 The people have had a belly full of it.

00:00:17.000 I know you don't like hearing that.

00:00:19.000 I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that,

00:00:21.000 but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.

00:00:23.000 And where do people like that go to share the big lie?

00:00:26.000 Mega Media.

00:00:28.000 I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

00:00:33.000 Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?

00:00:37.000 If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.

00:00:43.000 War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Banff.

00:00:50.000 It's Wednesday, 26 February, Year of the Lord 2025.

00:00:54.000 President Trump's first cabinet meeting about to start.

00:00:58.000 There's a pool camera and some pool reporters will go there as soon as we got.

00:01:02.000 Brian Glenn's up on Capitol Hill.

00:01:03.000 Marjorie Taylor Greene's subcommittee on Doge.

00:01:06.000 Getting to these cuts.

00:01:08.000 Waste fraud and abuse.

00:01:10.000 But I want to get Terry Schilling.

00:01:11.000 We're going to go to either when they start.

00:01:13.000 I want to go to Terry Schilling first.

00:01:16.000 Terry, and I had Mike Benz on last night,

00:01:19.000 but I want to do a follow up on this.

00:01:20.000 We want to stay on this story.

00:01:21.000 Which is not something we normally cover,

00:01:23.000 except for the fact this is so deeply disturbing

00:01:28.000 about senior people in the U.S. government,

00:01:30.000 and particularly in the deep state,

00:01:32.000 and not just that, in two of the most sensitive areas of our government,

00:01:36.000 NSA and the CIA.

00:01:38.000 Can you tell us what's going on and how disturbing this is

00:01:41.000 and what's being done about it?

00:01:43.000 Yeah, of course.

00:01:44.000 Thanks for having me on, Steve.

00:01:45.000 I've got all the receipts.

00:01:47.000 I've been pouring over it since last night when it first came out.

00:01:51.000 The NSA and CIA employees have these chat threads, okay?

00:01:56.000 And it's been uncovered and declassified that they've been talking about things

00:02:02.000 that really should never be talked about at work, right?

00:02:05.000 There are human resources rules

00:02:08.000 where you're not allowed to talk about things of any sexual nature at work

00:02:11.000 because it makes people feel uncomfortable,

00:02:13.000 and you're definitely not allowed to use company resources to do this,

00:02:16.000 and they've been using these chat threads.

00:02:18.000 But, Steve, it's not all just like weird stuff.

00:02:21.000 I'm sorry, disgusting stuff.

00:02:22.000 A lot of it's just weird.

00:02:24.000 Rufo uncovered this, actually, and he uncovered there's these threads

00:02:28.000 where they're talking about ethical.

00:02:30.000 Terry, hang on one second.

00:02:33.000 I just want to go live to MTG.

00:02:35.000 You stay right there.

00:02:36.000 We're going to come back and get all this.

00:02:37.000 Let's go to the DOGE subcommittee.

00:02:39.000 We'll turn with Terry Schilling in a moment.

00:02:41.000 In 2023 alone, Americans privately donated over $557 billion of their own money.

00:02:50.000 Corporations donated over $37 billion.

00:02:53.000 Foundations donated over $103 billion.

00:02:57.000 That is incredible, incredible of the American people.

00:03:02.000 In 2023, nearly 76 million Americans, almost 30% of Americans,

00:03:09.000 formally volunteered through in an organization.

00:03:12.000 Volunteered.

00:03:14.000 The government did not make them do that.

00:03:17.000 They did this on their own.

00:03:19.000 Donating and volunteering time is what supports schools and shelters, hospitals and hotlines,

00:03:25.000 food banks, and more across only our country.

00:03:30.000 Not only our country, but across the world.

00:03:32.000 Ask anyone in Western North Carolina.

00:03:35.000 Whether it be individuals, churches, or businesses, the American people are the most generous people in the entire world.

00:03:42.000 And I'm so proud of that.

00:03:44.000 They should be the ones who decide where their money goes.

00:03:48.000 They can choose if they want to donate to a charity, a school, a church, or a nonprofit.

00:03:54.000 They can choose if they want to privately donate to a transgender salon in Mumbai.

00:03:59.000 They can choose if they want to privately donate to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

00:04:05.000 They can choose if they want to privately donate to the Wuhan Institute of Virology through EcoHealth Alliance.

00:04:13.000 Or to electric vehicles in Vietnam.

00:04:16.000 Or to changing the national census in Bangladesh to be more gender inclusive.

00:04:22.000 That is something they should be able to choose.

00:04:25.000 That is something they should never be forced to do by our government.

00:04:29.000 The Democrat-run USAID should not get to use our federal government, our U.S. taxpayer dollars, as their party piggy bank

00:04:39.000 to push their radical agenda in countries that we have no business giving money to.

00:04:44.000 96% of all political contributions from USAID employees go to Democrat Party candidates, or PACs.

00:04:54.000 That's 96%.

00:04:56.000 Not only is USAID giving $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, or $50,000 for transgender opera in Columbia, or to entrench their left-wing ideology across the globe.

00:05:10.000 USAID has been transformed into an America last foreign aid slush fund to prop up extremist groups, implement censorship campaigns, and interfere in foreign elections to force regime change around the world.

00:05:28.000 That is the dark truth about USAID.

00:05:31.000 That is a story the American people deserve to know.

00:05:34.000 Not only was USAID never designed to be what it has morphed into, but these things should never have been funded in the first place.

00:05:44.000 In fiscal year 2023, USAID disbursed roughly $44 billion of aid across 160 countries and regions around the world.

00:05:56.000 During the four years of the Biden administration, 181 countries received approximately $240 billion in U.S. development aid, with Ukraine being the top recipient.

00:06:09.000 Other top recipients include Ethiopia, Jordan, Israel, and Somalia.

00:06:15.000 So after hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been distributed throughout the world, has the world become safer? No.

00:06:23.000 Has the world become more stable? No.

00:06:27.000 Is the perception of the United States around the globe any better? No.

00:06:32.000 But have some of the most anti-democratic principles like censorship and the canceling of elections been funded through USAID because of opposition to the ruling regimes? Yes.

00:06:46.000 Has money through USAID been funneled to terrorists? Yes.

00:06:55.000 Foreign aid from USAID to the U.N., particularly the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, is directly funding Hamas terrorists.

00:07:08.000 Humanitarian relief intended for the Afghan people was diverted to the Taliban.

00:07:15.000 Money intended to support democracy is being used as a slush fund for liberal propaganda supporting terrorists, gender ideology, diversity, equity, and inclusion, climate activism, censorship, and regime change.

00:07:30.000 Do you think this is what the American people think of when they think of foreign aid? Absolutely not.

00:07:38.000 Taxpayer funds have literally been used to undermine U.S. interests and counter American foreign policy goals under the guise of foreign aid.

00:07:48.000 This is unacceptable, and the American people agree.

00:07:52.000 Thankfully, President Trump has taken action to address these issues.

00:07:56.000 The election of President Trump was a clear mandate by the American people that they will no longer tolerate this.

00:08:03.000 He is putting an end to the foreign aid slush fund, ensuring the hard-working American taxpayers' dollars are supporting America First policies,

00:08:13.000 and taking care of our own people at home.

00:08:17.000 And we will do the same.

00:08:20.000 With that, I now recognize Ranking Member Stansbury for the purpose of making an opening statement.

00:08:27.000 All right. Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Elon Musk Chainsaw Massacre,

00:08:34.000 except for this remake of a classic is terrible because it's hurting real people,

00:08:40.000 and its lead character, Mr. Musk, hasn't shown up in front of this committee or Congress at all.

00:08:46.000 We also, of course, call this the Subcommittee on DOGE or Project 2025, as we'll see here during the Q&A.

00:08:53.000 So today, in this hearing on foreign aid, which the GOP has called,

00:08:58.000 you're going to hear all kinds of wild conspiracy theories, accusations, and unfounded data.

00:09:05.000 It's designed to confuse and provide cover for Donald Trump and Elon Musk in their reckless gutting of our foreign aid

00:09:14.000 and our reordering under the Trump Administration of International Affairs.

00:09:18.000 But before we dive into the details, I want to zoom out and provide some critical context here about why this is happening.

00:09:28.000 So first of all, let's talk about what happened over the last two weeks as the administration took an abrupt about-face in international relations

00:09:39.000 after 64 years of USAID and supporting our allies in Europe, turning its back on long-standing allies,

00:09:48.000 and now suddenly embracing and enabling U.S. foreign adversaries.

00:09:53.000 Let's do a little oversight here.

00:09:55.000 Last week, the administration shocked the world as the Vice President took to the global stage and addressed European leaders

00:10:03.000 and informed them that the Trump administration believes that the greatest threat to Europe is not the autocratic leader

00:10:11.000 who invaded our Western ally three years ago and committed war crimes and atrocities against the Ukrainian people

00:10:18.000 and threatened Western democracy, but instead the VP said it was, quote, a threat from within.

00:10:25.000 He then snubbed our German allies and, in an unprecedented move, tacitly endorsed and then met with a far-right candidate from the German parliament

00:10:37.000 who Elon Musk has spent months backing.

00:10:41.000 This is a party that is so extreme that even conservatives in Germany will not form a government with them.

00:10:48.000 Then, over the weekend, Donald Trump went on a wild rant on social media embracing Vladimir Putin and repeating Russian propaganda trying to rewrite history

00:11:00.000 and falsely claim that Ukraine started a war against its own people.

00:11:04.000 Then, on Monday, Trump had the United States of America vote with Russia, North Korea, and China as four of the only eight countries in the world voting in the U.N.

00:11:21.000 against a resolution supporting Ukraine and affirming Ukraine's sovereignty.

00:11:26.000 When you think about what this means in the context of American history, it's truly astonishing.

00:11:33.000 That same day, which was only two days ago, the administration announced that they would proceed with firing another 2,000 USAID workers,

00:11:43.000 even as a court ruled that the administration's dismantling of the aid organization is illegal.

00:11:49.000 And interestingly, one of the main opponents of USAID programs is Donald Trump's buddy, Vladimir Putin.

00:11:57.000 Why? Because among the programs that the U.S. was funding before the funding was frozen was aid to Ukraine, including safe houses on the front lines,

00:12:07.000 a free and open press to help keep people informed what was happening in the war, not to mention refugee resettlement in the United States.

00:12:15.000 USAID was also engaged in democracy building in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, especially with the fall of the USSR.

00:12:23.000 Of course, Mr. Putin didn't like that either.

00:12:27.000 And these investments have been totally decimated over the last several weeks.

00:12:33.000 Over the last five years, USAID has funded international aid to 212 countries around the world

00:12:40.000 to promote international peace and security, to help maintain stability and ensure that we are making good on America's promises.

00:12:49.000 These investments are a fraction of the cost of weapons and defense.

00:12:55.000 And the U.S. in the process is able to help promote national security, stop global pandemics, prevent hunger and mass migrations,

00:13:04.000 and make the world and the United States a safer place.

00:13:08.000 So when we hear conservative allies of Donald Trump repeat wild and unfounded claims about international aid,

00:13:17.000 and we see a coordinated attack by conservative media think tanks like those who are here today, members of Congress, the administration,

00:13:26.000 we have to ask ourselves, what is really going on here, folks?

00:13:31.000 Why the hell are they so hell-bent on dismantling an organization that has been so vital to American interests and Western democracy for so long?

00:13:43.000 Over the last several days, they have fired thousands of federal employees.

00:13:49.000 It really does make you wonder, doesn't it?

00:13:52.000 And by the way, while they've been doing that, China has actually moved in already to places in South Asia that had their funding cut

00:14:01.000 and is beginning to replace American diplomacy and aid in those places.

00:14:07.000 So as we listen to this hearing today and hear from our witnesses, which I look forward to,

00:14:12.000 I hope that we can get to the bottom of what is actually going on here today.

00:14:17.000 And with that, I look forward to hearing the testimony.

00:14:21.000 January 24th, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an order that came with a waiver for emergency food assistance,

00:14:30.000 which was broadened even further several days later for lifesaving services.

00:14:34.000 Secretary Rubio has stated very clearly, we have a blanket waiver and anybody who tells you they don't understand it,

00:14:42.000 let me repeat it in very simple words.

00:14:44.000 If it saves lives, if it's emergency life-saving aid, food, medicine, whatever, they have a waiver.

00:14:52.000 I don't know how much clearer we can be.

00:14:55.000 And if we're not applying it, then maybe we're not a very good organization

00:14:59.000 and maybe they shouldn't be getting any money at all.

00:15:02.000 Additionally, in-kind food assistance purchased from U.S. farmers is continuing.

00:15:09.000 I'm pleased to introduce our witnesses today.

00:15:12.000 Max Primerak is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

00:15:16.000 We're going to get back to some of the witnesses.

00:15:17.000 We're going to dip in and out of this.

00:15:19.000 Particularly, as you know, we will focus somewhat on the Democrats asking cheap shot questions

00:15:23.000 because you see the angle of attack they're coming at, the information warfare.

00:15:26.000 I know the audience loved the congresswoman's tee-up right there. 1.00

00:15:31.000 I could hear heads blowing up as it went.

00:15:34.000 But you see, this is what half the country hears every day, is that.

00:15:39.000 That's what we have to combat.

00:15:41.000 I want to go to Schilling for a second.

00:15:42.000 Terry's back with us.

00:15:43.000 Terry, and this story's not getting the amount of coverage it should get.

00:15:48.000 So let's hit rewind quickly.

00:15:49.000 I don't think the cabinet meeting is going to start to the bottom of the hour.

00:15:52.000 We're going to dip back in and out of some of the explosive testimony

00:15:57.000 and questions from the Democrats in the Doge hearing.

00:16:00.000 But there was, I guess, a chat room or some sort of digital space where people at the National Security Agency, NSA,

00:16:12.000 which is the Fort Meade, the spook of all spooks, right?

00:16:16.000 And coupled with CIA personnel, was a chat room with what?

00:16:22.000 Affinity Group, LGBTQ++?

00:16:25.000 What was it?

00:16:26.000 Yep.

00:16:27.000 No, that's right.

00:16:28.000 Basically, these were NSA and CIA employees and even DIA.

00:16:33.000 There were Navy employees on here that were all communicating.

00:16:38.000 Steve, the group chats got leaked, right?

00:16:41.000 This is like the nightmare for every young man out there.

00:16:43.000 The group chats got leaked.

00:16:45.000 But they're talking about weird things.

00:16:47.000 There's a lot of disgusting things.

00:16:49.000 There's this whole section where they're talking about their identities,

00:16:54.000 but they're talking about getting trans surgeries.

00:16:57.000 And I want to read some of this to you because I think it's important so that you guys know who is in charge of our National Security Administration.

00:17:04.000 They say here, and this is all during the work hours, by the way.

00:17:07.000 This is at 3.57 p.m.

00:17:10.000 Someone from the U.S. Navy says,

00:17:12.000 right, that's the big thing for me was being able to wear leggings or bikinis without having to wear a gaff underneath it.

00:17:18.000 And someone just shortly after this says,

00:17:21.000 Also, one of the weirdest things that gives me euphoria is when I pee.

00:17:25.000 I don't have to push anything down to make sure it aims straight.

00:17:28.000 Steve, I can't read some of this stuff without laughing or vomiting.

00:17:33.000 Another one says, I mean, honestly, the rest is nice, too.

00:17:38.000 Wearing panties without worrying about showing, seeing my reflection in the mirror, wearing leggings.

00:17:44.000 But the pee thing is something I never thought of.

00:17:46.000 But it's really nice.

00:17:48.000 These are people that are talking at their government employees doing this on on work hours on government property.

00:17:56.000 This is all like sexual harassment.

00:17:58.000 You're not in the workplace in normal workplaces.

00:18:00.000 You're not allowed to talk about things of a sexual nature.

00:18:03.000 There's whole sections where they're faint.

00:18:05.000 There's one person in here that's fantasizing about the idea of having a hermaphrodite child so that they could truly raise them as a true non binary baby.

00:18:15.000 There's whole sections about promoting ethical non monogamy.

00:18:21.000 They're using words.

00:18:22.000 Steve, I've been coming on this show for so long.

00:18:25.000 You know how in the weeds I am on all this sexual left stuff.

00:18:28.000 There are terms here I've never even heard before.

00:18:31.000 A polycule.

00:18:32.000 And they explain it here.

00:18:34.000 A polycule is a polyamorous group.

00:18:36.000 So this is a group of people that are all screwing around on their partner, but they're doing it ethically.

00:18:43.000 And with their partner's consent.

00:18:45.000 There's this I'm going to read this paragraph because maybe maybe the war room posse can explain it to me.

00:18:50.000 And by the way, this is at 440 p.m. in the afternoon on a work day.

00:18:54.000 So mine looks like a triple bond with P2 double bonds with P3 and P4 who have triple bond between each other double bonds with P5 and P6 who have a triple bond.

00:19:07.000 I think this is like – so there's a big group of people, like six people that are all – sorry, it's a total of eight people in this group.

00:19:14.000 They're all sleeping around with each other, and then they have – they don't all sleep around with each other in the group.

00:19:20.300 They only – it's crazy, Steve.

00:19:23.000 This is all being done by government employees at the National Security Administration.

00:19:26.000 There's a question, but this is what I'm missing.

00:19:30.000 These people have super high security – this is not like confidential secret, top secret.

00:19:36.000 These people have the highest security clearances by the most secretive agencies in our government that have the most sensitive material that one could argue – and I'm a big believer in declassifying most of this stuff.

00:19:53.560 But if you had to have certain stuff that was classified for national security, these would be the places that have it.

00:20:00.080 That's what's – this is not like some affinity group out there that's a group of activists.

00:20:08.220 There's not some corporate – a corporation that has this as part of a DEI initiative.

00:20:14.080 These are people with incredibly high – that have been deemed by our country and by the apparatus, the national security and intelligence apparatus that oversees the deep state and supposedly oversees the security of the country.

00:20:31.080 These people have been deemed guardians of our republic and the biggest state secrets, state secrets of our republic.

00:20:40.140 Are they not?

00:20:41.080 No, that's what is so enraging about this, Steve.

00:20:45.420 These are the watchmen.

00:20:46.860 These are people that should be like daily mask hours, people that are constantly praying.

00:20:52.240 These are people that should have like the cleanest reputations, nothing weird in their background, totally normal, like very boring people.

00:21:00.040 These should be like autists, basically, who just process numbers and process data. 0.97

00:21:04.580 They don't have emotions.

00:21:05.940 They aren't distracted by all this crazy sexual stuff.

00:21:08.960 But these are the watchmen.

00:21:10.500 And here's where I think it gets really interesting, Steve, is that I think there's – I think these people have no shame.

00:21:17.320 They're so like lost.

00:21:18.980 They're so like in this disordered world that they don't even realize how offensive this is to a factory worker or to a plumber or to like people out there slaving away, making this country actually run. 0.67

00:21:31.260 And they don't realize how disordered their lives are, that they're just openly talking about it.

00:21:36.340 These are things that are shameful.

00:21:38.060 These are things that anyone should be embarrassed if it got leaked.

00:21:42.000 But I think that the people at the top – and here's the thing, Steve.

00:21:44.960 I'm sorry.

00:21:45.440 This is just a lot.

00:21:46.440 The NSA and the CIA, the intelligence agencies, they didn't know about these threads going on.

00:21:53.120 Their superiors either weren't paying attention or don't – or worse, Steve.

00:21:57.240 They weren't paying attention or they don't think it's bad, right?

00:22:01.200 And I think that that's worse because if you don't think this stuff is bad, what do you think is bad?

00:22:05.660 The answer is they think going to church is bad.

00:22:07.760 Yeah, they can listen to all your phone calls.

00:22:11.880 They knew this was going on.

00:22:13.640 I want to connect a dot, too, back to the CNN lead on – I think it was Sunday.

00:22:19.020 They're saying that the Doge effort are reducing this reduction in force, the RIF, particularly where it hits something – and they use the CIA specifically when it hits Langley – that you're going to cause a national security problem because you have all these people that have these very high security clearances that are now going to be cut loose.

00:22:37.360 And that could be a breeding ground for foreign intelligence services like the Chinese Communist Party or the Persians or the Russians, whoever, to basically scoop these people up and get their secrets.

00:22:48.340 Well, right here, these guys knew this was going on.

00:22:51.560 It's impossible that senior authorities – because I'm sure there's a couple of three senior authorities in the chat room itself.

00:22:59.040 It's impossible that they didn't know this was going on, and you see the level of depravity and the opportunity, not just for blackmail, but if these people were let go, which to me they should be terminated immediately and prosecuted.

00:23:11.960 They could flip with the highest state secrets we have and or methods and processes, right, and turn it over to foreign intelligence services.

00:23:23.500 Terry Schilling.

00:23:25.280 No, that's exactly right.

00:23:26.840 Steve, if Chris Rufo was able to get this, the CCP have it.

00:23:32.160 They've had it for a long time.

00:23:33.460 The Russians have it. 0.95

00:23:34.400 All of our enemies have it.

00:23:35.680 If Chris Rufo and you and I are talking about this on TV right now, these guys had it years ago probably, and I actually think this might explain a lot of the crazy decisions that Biden made in his White House.

00:23:48.180 And I think also I've always wondered why Mark Milley thought it was a good idea to call the Chinese and tip them off that he was going to stop anything that Donald Trump might be doing out the door.

00:23:59.460 He called a foreign adversary and let them know he would let them know about any attacks potentially coming.

00:24:04.000 Why would he do that unless they had some compromising information on it?

00:24:08.260 I mean, I think this brings a lot to light.

00:24:11.000 These agencies are completely compromised at this point.

00:24:14.200 Who else do we have information on?

00:24:15.620 This is just what's public.

00:24:17.400 And when it gets to me, it's not confidential whatsoever, right?

00:24:22.180 So I think this is very dangerous and we need a completely clean house.

00:24:26.040 We are in serious danger and our national security is in peril right now, I think.

00:24:31.320 Terry, where did we go?

00:24:35.620 You're breaking all types of stories like this and working on making sure this mess gets cleaned up as others, because Tulsi Gabbard has put down the word that she's doing a major investigation on this right now.

00:24:45.840 I'm sure it's going to be a topic in the cabinet meeting that's going to take place here momentarily.

00:24:50.860 Where do people go to get you for additional information?

00:24:52.960 The best thing, the quickest breaking way to get information out there right now, Steve, is on X.

00:24:59.700 So follow me on X at shilling1776.

00:25:03.320 I'm on every platform, though, so it's all just shilling1776.

00:25:07.140 As you see it, this was one of the driving factors in President Trump's election, and it's getting worse.

00:25:17.500 President Trump is taking action like Tulsi Gabbard is taking action.

00:25:22.120 But the resistance on this is not going away.

00:25:24.280 In fact, I actually think they're digging in harder.

00:25:26.920 Do you anticipate – first off, am I correct in that or that's just my perception, number one?

00:25:31.040 And number two, do you see this rolling out and even taking – playing a part in the Virginia governor's race, which is probably the most important political race we have this year, sir?

00:25:42.020 Well, don't sleep on New Jersey, Steve, because I think we got a shot to win both in Virginia and New Jersey.

00:25:47.260 And these culture war topics are going to be front and center.

00:25:50.200 No, the resistance isn't going away.

00:25:52.240 In fact, it's just changing battlefields.

00:25:54.500 So you're right, Trump is winning on the culture war, especially on the gender identity stuff, cleaning up girls' sports and protecting our kids. 0.73

00:26:03.400 And if you look at the polling on this, it's insane.

00:26:06.080 Trump is talking about this publicly.

00:26:07.580 He's saying it's a 90 percent approval.

00:26:09.180 He's right.

00:26:09.860 He's not – he talks a good game sometimes, talks a lot of trash, but he's actually right.

00:26:14.640 The numbers are like 86, 87 percent approval on the gender identity stuff he's doing.

00:26:18.880 But here's where they're moving the battlefield to is the courts, right?

00:26:22.400 And the whole – I talked to Mike Davis – after our conversation last week, I talked to Mike Davis about this, about these temporary restraining orders at these nationwide injunctions that these judges are doing.

00:26:33.000 So next step is for the Trump administration to challenge those temporary restraining orders.

00:26:38.240 But here's where it gets interesting and very good for us, Steve.

00:26:41.060 The Supreme Court has made it very clear over the past few months that they are growing tired of these nationwide injunctions because they're being abused.

00:26:50.540 So the longer – we need to keep fighting on this gender identity stuff because if the judges at the lower levels, the districts and the appeal courts keep messing around, they're going to find out because the Supreme Court is going to take away their ability to do these garbage nationwide injunctions. 0.99

00:27:07.960 So keep fighting on the gender identity stuff because the left can't back away from it. 0.83

00:27:12.500 Force them to do these nationwide injunctions.

00:27:14.180 And then we can get rid of them entirely because the Supreme Court will restrict the lower court's ability to continue to do these nationwide injunctions. 0.87

00:27:21.900 We just need to keep fighting on it.

00:27:23.220 It's a great opening for us.

00:27:26.520 Last point on this.

00:27:27.840 When Natalie Winters talks about embeds, this is what she's talking about.

00:27:31.340 You have in these two and a half, three million government employees, right, these bureaucrats, the people that run the administrative state and the deep state, you have these types of people.

00:27:44.300 These are Trump haters, and these people are depraved.

00:27:49.040 There's nothing they won't do to destroy MAGA.

00:27:52.360 This is where it gets to be a spiritual war.

00:27:54.440 And I strongly recommend, and it's going to be quite distasteful because it was, like I said, this is not my line of country.

00:28:01.940 Man, it was rough reading.

00:28:03.120 But Chris Ruffo has done a tremendous public service by putting this stuff up.

00:28:07.200 And, Terry, as you know, because we talked about how can we even put it up on the show and much less how are we going to put it on the morning part of the show, right, where there's so many homeschoolers.

00:28:17.160 But this has to be addressed, and this is what Natalie means by embeds, that your government's replete, maybe not in this topic, but analogous, other chat rooms doing other things, right, maybe not quite so depraved.

00:28:35.240 But the government's full of this, and this is what President Trump – these are embeds.

00:28:39.180 This is what President Trump has to fight every day.

00:28:41.840 It's like being in Saigon in 1967.

00:28:44.940 Terry Schilling, one more time, where are they going toward her to get you?

00:28:49.100 It's just Schilling, 1776.

00:28:51.180 But, Steve, one more thing, if I could.

00:28:53.460 There's a whole section in here where these government employees at the NSA and CIA, where they're talking about how they had to fly over to Thailand to get their sex change procedures.

00:29:03.060 Steve, I don't have any money to pay.

00:29:04.620 Where are these guys getting all this money?

00:29:06.400 They're getting paid off or something.

00:29:07.680 They're getting paid way too much money.

00:29:08.960 It's so corrupt.

00:29:13.360 Unbelievable.

00:29:14.380 Sick.

00:29:14.940 Thank you so much, sir.

00:29:15.880 Appreciate you.

00:29:17.240 Thanks, Steve.

00:29:20.420 One of the things we do here is make sure you get full access to senior people.

00:29:24.620 Philip Patrick's going to be on tonight, but you can get him 24-7 or his team, birchgold.com slash war room.

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00:34:18.080 Thank you.

00:34:19.400 I now recognize myself for five minutes of questions.

00:34:22.460 And I will inform this committee and the public watching that if...

00:34:29.420 Pardon?

00:34:30.240 Oh, sorry.

00:34:31.380 I'm sorry, Mr. Unger.

00:34:33.120 Apologize.

00:34:33.660 I didn't mean to skip over you.

00:34:36.140 I now recognize Mr. Unger for five minutes.

00:34:40.800 Madam Chair, Ranking Member Stansbury, distinguished members of the subcommittee,

00:34:45.660 I am honored to share my views with you.

00:34:48.040 They are my own and not those of my current or former employers.

00:34:50.560 I have served at USAID and the State Department in multiple roles and in non-governmental

00:34:55.580 positions focused on U.S. foreign aid reform and global development.

00:34:59.740 My government service took place during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush,

00:35:03.500 Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.

00:35:05.820 Every U.S. administration since World War II has wanted to shape foreign aid in line with

00:35:10.720 its goals.

00:35:11.720 But strangling the system into extinction is akin to unilaterally disarming at a time of mounting

00:35:17.620 geopolitical competition for partnerships globally.

00:35:21.560 Throwing away our toolbox does not make us safer or well-positioned to influence the world.

00:35:26.920 Our set of foreign aid tools reflects enlightened self-interest.

00:35:30.600 With it, the U.S. countered communism and enhanced the education, farming productivity,

00:35:35.280 and health of people around the world while also saving lives.

00:35:38.180 Our international AIDS and malaria programs have collectively saved more than 35 million

00:35:43.660 lives over the past couple decades.

00:35:45.840 U.S. assistance has also built partnerships and economic growth, so much so that 11 of

00:35:50.840 America's 15 biggest trading partners were former recipients of U.S. foreign assistance.

00:35:55.700 We are now in a period of renewed geostrategic competition.

00:36:00.860 China has been vying with the U.S. for partnerships across the Global South, inking deals where it can.

00:36:07.100 China can and will fill soft power voids left by the U.S.

00:36:10.780 Other potential threats to our security are also connected to developing countries and fragile states,

00:36:16.340 from the potential resurgence of ISIS in the Middle East to the spreading influence of Islamist militants and Russian mercenaries across the Sahel.

00:36:23.680 On the eastern edge of Europe, Russian aggression may continue to grow unchecked,

00:36:29.080 and in Colombia, the strife from neighboring Venezuela is spilling over to yield the worst violence in a generation.

00:36:34.840 With that backdrop, the administration has abruptly and collectively disabled U.S. tools of foreign assistance.

00:36:41.980 The White House has said it is cutting programs that do not benefit Americans.

00:36:45.940 But their approach is dismantling many programs that help Americans, thereby cutting off our nose to spite our face.

00:36:53.680 This is evident in many ways.

00:36:56.080 First, the government has purchased more than $2 billion in food aid annually from American farmers,

00:37:01.960 and American farms supply more than 40 percent of the food aid USAID sends around the world.

00:37:07.120 But with the foreign aid freeze and stop work order, rice, wheat, and soybeans are going to waste in transit and in ports.

00:37:14.220 In Houston alone, hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat have been stranded.

00:37:18.560 The recklessness of the current approach is evident in health efforts, too.

00:37:24.820 We need our foreign aid to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases from spreading before reaching our shores.

00:37:30.740 But U.S.-funded early detection and treatment for deadly diseases like Ebola have sputtered to a standstill.

00:37:36.040 Okay, right there, and there will be cross-examination of him.

00:37:41.580 What I appreciate, and of course the Democrats get to put up some, but MTG is running pretty even-handed.

00:37:47.580 Right there you have a counter, right, to saying, hey, this is done too quickly, without thought,

00:37:52.960 that these programs in the past have helped win the Cold War, et cetera, et cetera.

00:37:57.600 I think the reality is that they became way off track.

00:38:02.800 National Review, in fact, I'll address it this afternoon and talk about, I think, the Endowment for Democracy, the Fund for Democracy,

00:38:10.260 which is a big item during the Cold War, but these get way off track.

00:38:15.760 As you're not just awoke and weaponized, but you have a totally different mindset that particularly hates,

00:38:22.720 and this is one of the reasons that the post-war international rules-based order turned on the American people,

00:38:28.800 turned on working-class people as the enemy.

00:38:32.140 First, they gutted the factories, the lords of easy money on Wall Street, the private equity funds, the hedge funds,

00:38:39.540 shipped the jobs to make money overseas.

00:38:41.920 So they gutted, this is the economic distress, this is why so many working-class people have to have,

00:38:48.780 I don't know, they call it economic security or food security, the big SNAP programs, food stamp programs, plus Medicaid.

00:38:58.460 It's the economic distress of the working-class and the middle-class put on by an economic model that didn't put citizens first.

00:39:08.440 It didn't put citizens first.

00:39:10.040 What it did was ravage the rawest and most corrupt form of state in crony capitalism.

00:39:21.200 So that they took, they socialized all the risk, and they kept unlimited upside for themselves.

00:39:27.680 What do I mean by that?

00:39:29.480 Whether you have bank failure in 2008 or a bank failure in Silicon Valley Bank,

00:39:35.180 or you have, or you have, right now, and I've got this fascinating book from Alexander Karp called The Technological Republic,

00:39:46.080 and he's the head of Palantir, and of all the oligarchs, he's probably the one least on the spectrum.

00:39:52.760 But he makes an argument for another Marshall Plan or Mercury Space Plan to essentially bail out the oligarchs because they haven't hit their marks on this Faustian bargain that we made with them,

00:40:07.580 that the Obama administration and Biden made with them to let them become oligarchs so they could control the commanding heights of the algorithmic age.

00:40:16.180 They failed in that flat out.

00:40:21.180 This is what this whole USAID is, and that's only one thing.

00:40:25.340 I hope today's hearing, I think a lot of it's going to be USAID.

00:40:28.000 I know they have the guy from Rob Bluey's Daily Signal that wrote the book Woketopus, which is quite fascinating.

00:40:34.340 He kind of ties it all together, not just a woke agenda, but also how it was executed.

00:40:38.940 And USAID has been one that we've been on for a long time, playing by the rules, and that's what people were doing.

00:40:48.260 The House continued to override, one, what President Trump wanted to do, but then its own members, Matt Gaetz, MTG, Lauren Boebert, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Gosar, Thomas Massey.

00:41:03.160 Names sound familiar?

00:41:05.780 They tried to gut USAID and were overridden by Republican votes.

00:41:12.940 So the committee hearing, we'll dip back in.

00:41:14.940 What I'd like to do is I'd like to go back in when the Democrats, I think this worked well in the confirmation hearing,

00:41:19.600 because you see how they're playing ball.

00:41:21.260 We need you, you're information warriors.

00:41:25.400 The reason we've had so many victories is because of you and because you're well-armed and focused.

00:41:30.460 Let me say at CPAC, I was amazing, once again, when the posse gets together, I'm able to do these meet and greets,

00:41:39.520 and we'll do one this Friday in Tarrant County, is I hear what you're working on,

00:41:46.280 and it amazes me the sharp focus that you have on those items of the day that most interest you.

00:41:54.720 The hardest thing we have for the show is to keep ahead of the audience.

00:41:57.380 The hardest thing now is actually to find time to do everything we want to do,

00:42:02.120 particularly with the live coverage we want to give of activities, particularly in the White House,

00:42:08.540 because this is historic.

00:42:10.260 You're seeing history being made, and I've talked to my production team and Grace and Mo and others,

00:42:16.940 and, of course, the folks at Real America's Voice.

00:42:20.160 And because we have access now with Natalie and Amanda Head and Brian at the White House,

00:42:28.220 you're seeing history being made there every day.

00:42:30.900 I mean, these are, these, President Trump is using and moving the big muscles.

00:42:37.020 This is not marginalia.

00:42:38.700 Let's go back to the, you know, the Clintons.

00:42:41.080 Everybody says, the Clintons included,

00:42:42.800 they feel they're wasted their presidency playing small ball in hindsight, you know, school uniforms.

00:42:48.860 Clinton doesn't have any real, now he sits there and goes, well, you know, it's decades, nothing happens,

00:42:55.580 and there are weeks in which decades happen.

00:42:58.160 I would argue differently.

00:43:00.360 You had to follow the, you had the Berlin Wall in 89,

00:43:04.680 but then you had the whole situation in Russia was mishandled by Clinton.

00:43:08.120 And you had plenty of opportunities with the Chinese Communist Party,

00:43:11.760 yet you gave them World Trade Organization, you gave them most favorite nation, all in Clinton.

00:43:15.440 I know this is totally unrelated to Chinese generals walking through the White House with bags of cash,

00:43:20.620 but they blew it.

00:43:22.840 Trump's not blowing it.

00:43:24.840 Every day in the Trump White House is like a term in the Clinton White House.

00:43:29.240 It's just, it's amazing.

00:43:31.360 I can tell you, when we go through and I look at night of what is planned the next day in the White House,

00:43:35.680 is what they've done, it's just, it's so monumental in so many different areas.

00:43:40.640 That's why the first cabinet meeting has not started yet.

00:43:43.000 They're running, tentatively scheduled for 11, then I think they push at 1130.

00:43:46.940 What will happen many times, just to give you how it's run,

00:43:51.040 people start congregating and they'll get into the Oval.

00:43:54.500 And President Trump's holding court.

00:43:56.080 I mean, he's getting feedback.

00:43:57.100 He's a people person.

00:43:59.100 He's a guy that, he takes a lot of meetings,

00:44:02.000 took a lot of meetings when he ran Trump Organization.

00:44:05.280 He would say, he would tell me all the time, he didn't come in,

00:44:08.000 because he's not a corporate guy.

00:44:09.460 He doesn't come in with a set agenda and people briefing and everything like that.

00:44:12.880 He's a, in golf we call it a field player.

00:44:15.340 It's about the feel.

00:44:18.260 You know, they don't have a manufactured classic swing.

00:44:21.660 They're a field player.

00:44:23.980 And that's what he is in business.

00:44:26.160 He sits there.

00:44:26.960 And the other thing people don't understand, he's a listener.

00:44:29.520 Now, when he's got the press in there, he's dropping bombs and driving things.

00:44:33.480 What do we got?

00:44:34.700 Oh, the cabinet meeting is about to start.

00:44:37.880 Let's go live to the White House.

00:44:40.620 Let's go ahead.

00:44:41.780 Thank you very much.

00:44:42.880 We appreciate you being here.

00:44:44.480 And we've put together a great cabinet.

00:44:47.340 And we've had tremendous success.

00:44:49.620 We've been given a lot of credit for having a very successful first month.

00:44:54.200 And we want to make that many months and years, actually.

00:44:58.800 But we're going to have many good months and we're going to have many good years, I hope.

00:45:01.740 And we're going to solve a lot of problems.

00:45:04.000 We're doing very well with Russia and Ukraine.

00:45:07.560 President Zelenskyy is going to be coming on Friday.

00:45:10.340 That's now confirmed.

00:45:11.540 And we're going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement.

00:45:15.380 And I want to thank Howard and Scott for the job you guys did in putting it together.

00:45:20.860 Really did an amazing job.

00:45:23.620 And that will be on rare earth and other things.

00:45:28.160 And as you know, we're in for probably $350 billion.

00:45:32.700 Europe is in for $100 billion.

00:45:36.680 And that's a big difference.

00:45:38.320 So we're in for probably three times as much.

00:45:40.960 And yet, it's very important to everybody.

00:45:44.580 But Europe is very close.

00:45:45.620 We have a big ocean separating us.

00:45:47.500 So it's very important for Europe.

00:45:49.180 And they hopefully will step up and do maybe more than they're doing and maybe a lot more.

00:45:56.640 The previous administration put us in a very bad position.

00:45:59.900 But we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get our money back.

00:46:03.120 And we're going to get a lot of money in the future.

00:46:04.780 And I think that's appropriate because we have taxpayers that shouldn't be footing the bill.

00:46:12.440 And they shouldn't be footing the bill at more than the Europeans are paying.

00:46:15.980 So it's all been worked out.

00:46:18.160 We're happy about it.

00:46:19.500 And I think that, very importantly, we're going to be able to make a deal.

00:46:23.780 Most importantly, by far, we're going to make a deal with Russia and Ukraine to stop killing people. 0.81

00:46:29.020 They'll stop killing young Russian soldiers and young Ukrainian soldiers.

00:46:34.780 And other people, in addition, in the towns and cities.

00:46:38.380 And we will consider that a very important thing and a big accomplishment

00:46:41.840 because it was going nowhere until this administration came in.

00:46:45.980 They hadn't spoken to President Putin in two years.

00:46:48.620 And so we'll keep you advised.

00:46:52.620 Before we begin the Cabinet, I'd like to have Scott and a couple of people say a few things.

00:47:00.060 But most importantly, where are you?

00:47:03.200 This is a gentleman who's going places, the head of HUD.

00:47:06.080 And he's going to say, you all know him.

00:47:08.740 And you're going to say, grace, and then we'll have our meeting.

00:47:12.060 Right?

00:47:12.440 Thank you very much.

00:47:13.580 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:47:14.200 Let's pray.

00:47:15.420 Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege, Father, to be in your presence.

00:47:21.420 God, thank you that you've allowed us to see this day.

00:47:24.480 The Bible says that your mercies are new every morning.

00:47:27.380 And, Father God, we give you the glory and the honor.

00:47:29.940 Thank you, God, for President Trump, Father, for appointing us.

00:47:34.280 Father God, thank you for anointing us to do this job.

00:47:37.560 Father, we pray you'll give the president and the vice president wisdom.

00:47:41.720 Father God, as they lead.

00:47:43.180 Father, I pray for all of my colleagues that are here around the table and in this room.

00:47:47.600 Lord God, we pray that we would lead with a righteous clarity.

00:47:51.080 Father God, that as we serve the people of this country in every prospective agency, every job that we have.

00:47:58.160 Father, we would humble ourselves before you.

00:48:00.560 And we would lead in the manner that you've called us to lead and to serve.

00:48:03.440 Father, the Bible says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

00:48:06.920 Well, Father, we today honor you.

00:48:09.760 And in your rightful place, Father, thank you for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country.

00:48:15.960 And be a blessing to the people of America.

00:48:17.920 And Lord God, today in our meeting, we pray that you will be glorified in our conversation.

00:48:23.020 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:48:26.460 Scott, that was a very good job you did.

00:48:28.920 You've done that before, haven't you?

00:48:32.620 So, Scott Turner is a terrific young guy.

00:48:35.660 He's heading up HUD, and he's going to make us all very proud, right?

00:48:39.280 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:48:40.000 Thank you very much.

00:48:40.680 Great job.

00:48:41.160 In just over one month, illegal voter crossings have plummeted by numbers that nobody has actually ever seen before.

00:48:49.300 It's much more than 100 percent.

00:48:51.180 And we've unleashed American energy at levels that will soon be reported.

00:48:58.640 But we think we're going to get it going very quickly.

00:49:00.920 We have incredible people on the energy front.

00:49:03.340 I think we have really great people on every front.

00:49:05.400 I'll let you know if they're not good, but I think they really are.

00:49:08.760 And we're fighting every day to get the prices down.

00:49:12.780 The inflation is stopping slowly.

00:49:15.940 But part of the reason it's stopping is because of high interest rates and other problems that we inherited.

00:49:21.540 But we have to get the prices down, not the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things.

00:49:27.180 Eggs are a disaster.

00:49:28.140 The Secretary of Agriculture is going to be showing you a chart that's actually mind-boggling what's happened.

00:49:34.900 How low they were with us and how high they are now.

00:49:37.820 But I think we can do something about it, Madam Secretary.

00:49:41.180 And I think you're going to do a fantastic job in that position.

00:49:44.600 One of the most important initiatives is DOGE.

00:49:48.840 And we have cut billions and billions and billions of dollars.

00:49:54.660 We're looking to get it maybe to a trillion dollars.

00:49:57.120 If we can do that, we're going to start getting to be at a point where we can think in terms of balancing budgets, believe it or not.

00:50:05.000 Something you haven't heard in many, many years.

00:50:06.880 Decades, actually.

00:50:08.540 And it's a big, whether it's this year or next year, I think we'll be very close to balancing budgets.

00:50:14.580 And the DOGE is very important.

00:50:16.380 And Elon is here to give you a summary of what's happening and some of the things they found.

00:50:21.920 Some of the horrible things they found, some of the theft and fraud, and we call it waste and abuse.

00:50:29.080 But a lot of fraud and probably some fraud that we're not going to be able to prove is fraud.

00:50:34.120 But when you hear the names and the places where this money is going, it's a disgrace.

00:50:39.560 But we've requested that a lot of people, we want to make sure that the people are working.

00:50:45.840 And so letters were sent out, and I think everyone at this table is very much behind it.

00:50:51.500 And if they aren't, I'd want them to speak up.

00:50:54.120 But they're very much behind it.

00:50:55.680 Letters were sent out to people just to find out if the people exist.

00:50:59.560 Do they work?

00:51:00.280 Who do they work for?

00:51:01.300 Where are they?

00:51:02.320 You know, where have they been working?

00:51:03.560 Have they been working for other companies or other entities at all?

00:51:07.840 Or being paid by the government?

00:51:09.540 So they have two jobs, but they're supposed to have one.

00:51:12.680 And the letter asks some simple questions like, what have you done lately?

00:51:17.680 And if they can answer that, because I can, I can tell you everything I've done for the last long period of time, a lot more than a week.

00:51:25.780 And in many cases, we haven't gotten responses.

00:51:29.660 Usually that means that maybe that person doesn't exist or that person doesn't want to say they're working for another company while being paid by the United States government.

00:51:38.460 So there's a lot of interesting things.

00:51:40.920 It's very unique.

00:51:41.760 But we have a very unique situation because we have a lot of people that were scamming our country.

00:51:47.100 We have a lot of dishonest people.

00:51:48.480 We have a lot of people that took advantage of a lot of different situations.

00:51:53.200 And we're not going to let that happen.

00:51:55.380 So I'm going to ask if it's possible to have Elon get up first and talk about Doge, because it seems to be of great interest to everyone.

00:52:02.660 I will say that there is a large group of people in this country that have such admiration for what we're doing.

00:52:11.180 I got elected with a tremendous vote, winning every swing state, winning the popular vote, winning the counties by thousands of counties.

00:52:21.060 I think it was 2,800 to 500.

00:52:24.400 2,800 counties to 500 counties.

00:52:27.160 Think of that.

00:52:27.640 And so we have a mandate to do this.

00:52:30.220 And this is part of the reason I got elected.

00:52:32.700 I got elected based on taxes and based on many things in the border, but also based on balancing budgets and getting our country back into shape.

00:52:42.860 And this is a big part of it.

00:52:44.500 So, Elon, if you could get up and explain where you are, how you're doing, and how much we're cutting.

00:52:49.840 And it's an honor to have you.

00:52:51.160 He's been a tremendously successful guy.

00:52:54.320 He's really working so hard, and he's got businesses to run.

00:52:58.600 And in many ways, they say, how do you do this?

00:53:01.000 And, you know, he's sacrificing a lot and getting a lot of praise, I'll tell you.

00:53:07.560 But he's also getting hit, and we would expect that.

00:53:11.480 And that's the way it works.

00:53:13.340 So I'd like to have Elon Musk, please, say a few words.

00:53:16.860 Thank you, Elon.

00:53:18.260 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:53:20.080 Well, I actually just call myself a humble tech support here because this is actually, as crazy as it sounds,

00:53:29.540 that that is almost a literal dispersion of the work that the Doge team is doing,

00:53:34.500 is helping fix the government computer systems.

00:53:36.780 Many of these systems are extremely old.

00:53:39.200 They don't communicate.

00:53:40.460 There are a lot of mistakes in the systems.

00:53:42.300 The software doesn't work.

00:53:45.760 So we are actually tech support.

00:53:47.880 No, it's ironic, but it's true.

00:53:52.060 The overall goal here with the Doge team is to help address the enormous deficit.

00:53:57.480 We simply cannot sustain, as a country, $2 trillion deficits.

00:54:01.480 The interest rates, just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department's spending.

00:54:09.340 We spend a lot on the Defense Department, but we're spending like over a trillion dollars on interest.

00:54:14.680 If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt.

00:54:17.900 It's not an optional thing.

00:54:20.780 It is an essential thing.

00:54:22.840 That's the reason I'm here.

00:54:25.440 I'm taking a lot of plaque and getting a lot of death threats, by the way.

00:54:28.580 I'd like to stack them up, you know.

00:54:29.780 But if we don't do this, America will go bankrupt.

00:54:34.840 That's why it has to be done.

00:54:37.580 I'm confident at this point, knock on wood, you know, knock on my wooden head,

00:54:42.060 that we can actually find a trillion dollars in savings.

00:54:50.620 That would be roughly 15% of the $7 trillion budget.

00:54:55.420 And obviously, that can only be done with the support of everyone in this room.

00:54:59.360 And I'd like to thank everyone for your support.

00:55:01.240 Thank you very much.

00:55:02.080 This can only be done with your support.

00:55:04.140 So this is really, Doge is a support function for the President and for the agencies and departments

00:55:12.580 to help achieve those savings and to effectively find 15% in reduction in fraud and waste.

00:55:22.680 And we bring the receipts.

00:55:24.460 Some people say, well, is this real?

00:55:26.080 Just go to doge.gov.

00:55:27.820 We line item by line item.

00:55:29.620 We specify each item.

00:55:30.860 So, and I should say, also, we will make mistakes.

00:55:35.280 We won't be perfect.

00:55:36.400 But when we make a mistake, we'll fix it very quickly.

00:55:40.680 So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola.

00:55:47.000 Ebola prevention.

00:55:48.100 I think we all want Ebola prevention.

00:55:49.800 So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately.

00:55:52.820 And there was no interruption.

00:55:55.640 But we do need to move quickly.

00:55:57.680 If we're to achieve a trillion-dollar deficit reduction in financial year 2026, it requires saving $4 billion per day, every day, from now through the end of September.

00:56:12.120 But we can do it, and we will do it.

00:56:15.160 Thank you.

00:56:15.720 Would you have any questions of Elon while we're on the subject of those?

00:56:19.260 Because we'll finish off with that.

00:56:20.720 And if you would have any questions, please ask – you could ask me or Elon.

00:56:25.520 Go ahead, please.

00:56:26.400 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:56:27.480 Thank you, Mr. Musk.

00:56:29.340 I just wanted to ask you that President Trump put out a truth social today, saying that everybody in the Cabinet was happy with you.

00:56:37.460 I just wondered if that – if you had heard otherwise, and if you had heard anything about members of the Cabinet who weren't happy with the way things were going.

00:56:43.960 And if so, what are you doing to address those – any dissatisfaction?

00:56:49.640 Hey, Elon, let the Cabinet speak just for a second.

00:56:52.600 Yeah, exactly.

00:56:53.640 Is anybody unhappy with Elon?

00:56:56.540 If you are, we'll throw them out of here.

00:57:00.500 Is anybody unhappy?

00:57:01.880 We have a lot of respect for Elon that he's doing this.

00:57:11.680 And some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you, for the most part, I think everyone is not only happy, they're thrilled.

00:57:17.960 So, go ahead, Elon.

00:57:18.920 I'm grateful.

00:57:20.400 And President Trump has put together, I think, the best Cabinet ever.

00:57:26.440 Literally.

00:57:27.100 So – and I do not give false praise.

00:57:30.340 This is an incredible group of people.

00:57:33.660 I don't think that such a talented team has actually ever been assembled.

00:57:37.300 I think it's literally the best Cabinet that the country has ever had.

00:57:39.960 And I think the company should be incredibly appreciative of the people in this room.

00:57:45.160 Mr. Mr. Musk.

00:57:45.980 Go ahead, please.

00:57:47.140 Yeah.

00:57:48.740 Mr. President, thank you.

00:57:49.860 Mr. Musk.

00:57:50.680 Are there – about half of the government employees so far appear to have responded to your request for what they've been doing over the past week.

00:57:58.240 Is there a timeline in place for next moves for people being fired and bunking in there?

00:58:02.460 Do people expect to see results of that?

00:58:04.660 Mr. Yes.

00:58:07.420 Well, to be clear, like the – I think that email perhaps was best interpreted as a performance review.

00:58:14.200 But actually, it was a pulse check review.

00:58:16.840 Do you have a pulse –

00:58:17.800 Mr. Do you have a pulse and two neurons?

00:58:21.120 So, if you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to an email.

00:58:25.400 Mr. This is, you know, I think not a high block is what I'm saying.

00:58:31.660 This is – should we – anyone can accomplish this?

00:58:34.500 But what we are trying to get to the bottom of is we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can't respond.

00:58:43.340 And some people who are not real people, like they're literally fictional individuals that are collecting paychecks – well, somebody is collecting paychecks on a fictional individual.

00:58:52.360 So we're literally trying to figure out are these people real, are they alive, and can they write an email?

00:58:58.400 Which I think is a reasonable expectation for the – you know, the American public would have at least that expectation of someone in the public sector.

00:59:05.320 Mr. Mas, roughly a million employees –

00:59:08.140 This is not a high bar, guys. Come on.

00:59:10.920 Roughly a million employees have responded so far to this email.

00:59:14.320 Does that mean that the remaining one million or so federal employees now risk being terminated?

00:59:19.100 And is it your understanding and expectation when you post a directive on X that the cabinet secretaries will follow that order?

00:59:26.100 Because several agencies have instructed employees that this is voluntary or not to respond.

00:59:32.260 Yeah.

00:59:32.420 Well, I mean, so, I guess it was, like last week, the President encouraged me by a true social – and also by a phone call – to be more aggressive.

00:59:43.420 And I was like, okay, you know, yes, sir, Mr. President, we'll indeed do that.

00:59:49.420 The President is the Commander-in-Chief. I do what the President asks.

00:59:53.420 So, and I said, can we send out an email to everyone just saying what did you get done last week?

01:00:00.420 The President said yes, so it did that.

01:00:03.420 And, you know, we got a partial response. We're going to send another email.

01:00:11.420 Our goal is not to be capricious or unfair.

01:00:14.420 We want to give people every opportunity to send an email.

01:00:18.420 And the email could simply be, what I'm working on is too sensitive or classified to describe.

01:00:23.420 Like, literally just – that would be sufficient. We're – you know, I think this is just common sense.

01:00:30.420 And what is your target number for how many workers, employees you're looking to cut total?

01:00:35.420 We wish to keep everyone who is doing a job that is essential and doing that job well.

01:00:42.420 But if they're – if the job is not essential or they're not doing the job well –

01:00:47.420 Okay, Stephen came in in the war room. We're passing on to Charlie Kirk.

01:00:50.420 We're going to continue live in the cabinet meeting.

01:00:52.420 We will be back here at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to wrap it all up for you.

01:00:56.420 See you then.

01:00:57.420 Many people that haven't responded though, Elon, they are on the bubble.

01:01:00.420 You know, I wouldn't say that we're thrilled about it.

01:01:04.420 You know, they haven't responded.

01:01:06.420 Now, maybe they don't exist.

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Bannon's War Room - February 26, 2025

Episode 4298： DOGE Subcommittee And President Trump's First Cabinet Meeting Of Second Term

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