At a fiery press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump made a bold claim, alleging that “large-scale fraud” had tainted multiple donations made by the previous U.S. government to countries worldwide.
Trump, visibly frustrated, questioned the staggering amounts of “hundreds of billions of dollars” in taxpayers’ money that had been funneled into questionable programs and contracts across Africa, Asia, and Europe.
He named several beneficiary nations, including Cambodia, Czechia, India, Kosovo, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mozambique, Nepal, Serbia, South Africa, and Uganda, among others.
The president’s remarks came after signing three new presidential memoranda alongside dozens of executive orders already in effect. The latest orders focus on “radical transparency about wasteful spending,” “ensuring accountability for all agencies,” and “expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF)” to improve affordability and availability.
Lamenting what he described as a shocking level of waste uncovered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, Trump declared: “They are finding levels of fraud and waste and abuse I think nobody ever thought possible.”
“Incredible things are happening in our country,” he continued. “We’ve made more progress in three weeks than they made in four years, especially with respect to the reputation of our country. People are respecting us again.”
When pressed about Musk’s role in his administration—especially after a White House court filing stated that the senior advisor has no authority to make decisions—Trump dismissed concerns, calling the Tesla CEO “a patriot” for his efforts.
Then came a bombshell revelation. Reading from a document, Trump claimed that DOGE had discovered that millions of people between the ages of 100 and 249—even some as old as 360—were receiving Social Security payments.
Turning his focus to the staggering financial outflows from the U.S. to foreign programs, Trump laid out a jaw-dropping list of expenditures:
• “$520 million for a consultant on the environment. It’s called environmental, social, and governance investments in Africa. Somebody got $520 million for environmental studies.”
• “$25 million to promote biodiversity conservation and licit livelihoods by developing socially responsible behavior in Colombia. Wow, that’s nice—$25 million for something that nobody ever heard of.”
• “$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants; $42 million for Johns Hopkins to research and drive social and behavioral change in Uganda. What about us?”
• “$70 million for a center at Purdue to research university-sourced, evidence-based solutions to develop mental challenges. These are massive numbers for things that nobody ever heard about.”
• “$10 million for voluntary medical male circumcisions in Mozambique… $10 million for circumcision in another country; $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop a cohort of Cambodian youths with enterprise-driven skills.”
• “$2.3 million for strengthening independent voices in Cambodia; $32 million to the Prague Civil Society Centre… wonder how much of that money came back to the people who approved it.”
• “$14 million for public procurement in Serbia; $486 million to the consortium for elections and political process strengthening, including $22 million for an inclusive and participatory political process in Moldova.”
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• “$21 million for voter turnout in India; $20 million for fiscal federalism in Nepal. Listen to these numbers—this is all fraud. $19 million for biodiversity conservation in Nepal.”
• “$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia; $14 million for social cohesion in Mali; $2.5 million for inclusive democracy in South Africa; $47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia.”
• “$2 million to develop sustainable recycling models to increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities in Kosovo, Ashkali, and Egypt.”
Trump shook his head. “We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. I could read this all day long. We have a very corrupt country. And it’s a sad thing to say, but we’re figuring it out.”