President targets education department and military in pre-Super Bowl chat and repeats wish for Canada to be 51st state<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump said that he expects Elon Musk to find \u201cbillions\u201d of dollars of abuse and fraud in the Pentagon during an interview with Fox News\u2019s Bret Baier that aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. … Then I\u2019m going to go, go to the military. Let\u2019s check the military,\u201d the US president told the host from the rightwing Fox News<\/a>, adding: \u201cWe\u2019re going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the last few weeks, Musk\u2019s \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d has been trying to dismantle numerous federal agencies in Washington DC, going through data systems, shutting down DEI programs, and in some cases, attempting to eliminate entire agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Musk and Trump attempted to put thousands of workers of the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on leave, but a judge on Friday temporarily blocked<\/a> the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without providing any evidence, Trump said in the Baier interview: \u201cYou take a look at the USAid<\/a>, the kind of fraud in there \u2026 We\u2019re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that\u2019s going to places where it shouldn\u2019t be going \u2026 It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s a big scam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump went on to reiterate his wish for Canada to be the 51st state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state because we lose $200bn a year with Canada and I\u2019m not going to let that happen,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s too much. Why are we paying $200bn a year, essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now, if they\u2019re a 51st state, I don\u2019t mind doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump<\/a> is the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, which has served as the finale of the NFL<\/a> season since 1966, although it is not unusual for a president to be part of Super Bowl programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presidents have traditionally given interviews to the network hosting the Super Bowl, although both Trump and Joe Biden<\/a> declined some requests during their first terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden skipped the Super Bowl<\/a> interview in 2024, in a move that some Democratic insiders<\/a> saw as a missed opportunity to speak directly to Americans. Biden\u2019s aides said he eschewed the interview because he felt voters wanted a break from political news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year\u2019s interview is somewhat unusual. Fox is hosting the Super Bowl<\/a>, and has assigned Baier to host the interview. Baier is seen as less rabidly pro-Trump than some of his colleagues, but the move suggested from the beginning that the interview might not be as adversarial as one conducted by a less-partisan network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, a lifelong New Yorker who moved to his members-only club in Florida after alienating much of his home state, has not indicated which team he will support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n