U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a serious warning to government fraudsters during Monday’s Cabinet meeting, promising harsh criminal prosecution for any fraud discovered through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aggressive austerity measures.
Musk’s team has found a “lot of waste and abuse, but there is a tremendous amount of fraud,” Bondi said during the meeting with President Donald Trump present. “And, Elon, thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your team. You have uncovered so much fraud in our government.”
In an effort to step up enforcement, Bondi said the Justice Department has created an internal task force dedicated to the prosecution of individuals behind any government fraud.
“We will prosecute you,” the attorney general warned. “We have an internal task force now working with every agency sitting here at this table. And if you’ve committed fraud, we’re coming after you.”
During the Cabinet meeting, Trump expressed satisfaction with DOGE’s work so far.
“We’ve had many fraudulent contracts that were caught by the work that Elon and his people are doing,” Trump said. “And working with our people, it’s been brought to light. The fraud, not just waste and abuse, the fraud has been incredible.”
The Department of Justice has announced that it is prepared for deep cooperation with DOGE to cut spending on their end, as well.
Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria announced in an email to DOJ division leaders on Wednesday the formation of a “JUST DOGE” team that will work with White House officials and “DOGE counterparts” to identify “savings and cost-cutting measures” within the department.
This team, formed earlier this week by the attorney general, includes senior DOJ officials such as “co-leads” AAG Lauria, Associate Deputy Attorney General James McHenry, Counselor to the Attorney General Sean Day, and Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Vetan Kapoor.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are doing historic work to identify and eliminate wasteful spending on behalf of American taxpayers, and JUST DOGE will advance this mission at the DOJ in order to ensure the Department’s resources are best utilized to Make America Safe Again,” a Justice Department spokesperson said about the effort.
During Monday’s meeting, Musk highlighted specific examples of fraud discovered by DOGE, including the misuse of funds at the Small Business Administration.
“[We found] a case of fraud and waste with the Small Business Administration, where they were handing out $330 million worth of loans to people under the age of 11,” Musk said. “I think the youngest was a nine month year [sic] old who got a $100,000 loan.”
“That’s a very precocious baby we’re talking about here,” he quipped.
Bondi said that under Trump’s directive, the Department of Justice will expand efforts to enforce other laws more strictly — beginning with the death penalty for those convicted of the most violent crimes.
“All of these horrible violent criminals that you’re hearing about around the country, they will face the death penalty federally within our country,” Bondi said. “And the drug dealers need to get out of here, because we are coming after you. We’re going to have 94 great U.S. attorneys around this country, and everyone will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Last week, Bondi addressed what she called “Democrat-sanctioned domestic terror” against Tesla property, which some sources have linked to backlash against Musk’s work with DOGE.
“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences,” she stated.
Of course, it hasn’t all been sunshine in Washington.
Bondi has faced serious criticism by Trump supporters and conservatives after failing to deliver information on disgraced billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which she vowed to release a month ago.
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