WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump lauded Vice President JD Vance’s leadership of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud during Wednesday’s White House cabinet meeting.
The president brought up the Vance-led task force during his opening remarks at the meeting and likened Vance to Elliot Ness, who, along with The Untouchables, took on Al Capone’s bootlegging syndicate during Prohibition.
“Under the leadership of Vice President JD Vance, very proud of this, the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is waging war on waste, fraud, theft, and abuse like nobody’s ever seen before. He looks like Elliot Ness,” Trump said.
“I’m telling you, the guys are up there. They’re all central casting… What a group of people. No, it looks like a movie. I’m going to make a movie out of it, I think,” he added.
Trump noted that Vance and the task force have uncovered tens of billions in potential fraud, adding Vance told him, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“If he does really great, we’ll have a balanced budget without having to do anything. This is the kind of money they stole. They’re crooks, they’re thieves,” he continued, adding he hopes Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche brings them to justice.
Vance’s team has uncovered fraud across government programs, including hospice and home healthcare (particularly in California), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud in various states, including Minnesota, suspected government contract fraud, and coronavirus pandemic-era fraud. The task force has also begun blocking tens of millions of dollars in suspected student aid fraud.
“In two months, we’ve exposed tens of billions of dollars of defrauded taxpayer money, prosecuted numerous fraudsters… and stopped billions of suspicious payments, very suspicious,” Trump said.
“I’m getting reports from Todd, from JD. I’ve never seen anything like it… Just hundreds of billions of dollars was stolen, and no other administration would do what we’re doing. They’d let it go. Everybody was getting rich,” he added.
Vance, who is employing a whole-of-government approach in the war on fraud, also thanked Trump for his support of the task force.
“The fact that we have dedicated presidential leadership is really what’s made this possible,” Vance said.
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