From PBS NewsHour.

Finding government waste, fraud and abuse has been a hot topic for both President Trump and Elon Musk, who have both made big claims about their efforts to clean up government spending. Fraud, which is illegal, can carry criminal penalties, and despite Trump’s claim his administration has found “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud,” no legal cases have been filed, charging anyone with fraud.

And, while finding fraud is often repeated as a top priority for his administration, Trump has overhauled key watchdog roles within the federal government that have been tasked with just that: eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.

PBS News’ Tim McPhillips spoke to Jessica Tillipman and Charles Tiefer, experts on government contracting and spending, about what fraud really is, what DOGE has actually been finding and how the U.S. government handled fraud before DOGE.

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