White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asked NBC reporter Peter Alexander if he was “defending” fraudulent payments from Social Security during a Friday gaggle with reporters.
President Donald Trump appointed Leland Dudek, the head of the Social Security Administration’s anti-fraud office, as acting head of the agency after Michelle King resigned following a clash with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees. Alexander pressed Leavitt over her comments regarding reports of waste and fraud in Social Security. (RELATED: ‘That’s Significant’: MSNBC Anchor’s Jaw Hits Floor When Told How Much Social Security Waste There Is)
“It’s a clever question. First of all, I think all Americans would agree that funding mastectomies in Mozambique is not something that the American people should be funding — or DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] programs — I think it’s fraudulent that the American government has been ripping off taxpayers in this way,” Leavitt told Alexander. “And we also do know there has been extensive fraud, particularly if you look at Social Security. In fact, according to an IG [Inspector General] report from the Social Security Administration, there was $71 billion worth of fraud in one single fiscal year that we know about. And so, that is a lot of fraud, Peter, that the government has admitted to. So this administration is committed to finding even more of that fraud, waste and abuse.”
“To be clear, that $71 billion was from 2015 to 2022, so it wasn’t in just one year —” Alexander asserted, with Leavitt responding, “$71 billion.”
The Social Security Administration’s inspector general reported in August of 2024 that the agency made at least $71 billion in improper payments between fiscal years 2015 and 2022. After returning to office, Trump immediately established DOGE in a Jan. 20 executive order to fulfill his campaign promise to eliminate federal waste. According to the DOGE website, at least $55 billion in savings have been identified since it was formed on Jan. 20. […]
— Read More: dailycaller.com
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
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Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
