Latest / NO FILTER / As Musk exits with a whimper_ Trump makes mockery of fighting government waste(MP3_160K)

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As Musk exits with a whimper_ Trump makes mockery of fighting government waste(MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: So we have even more breaking news tonight, folks. Somehow,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Elon Musk has announced that his time a special government
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: employee has come to an end. On his social media site,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: he wrote, I would like to thank President Trump for
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The DOGE mission will
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: only strengthen overtime as it becomes a way of life
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: throughout the government, sort of ending his role in demolishing
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: huge swats of the federal government with a whimper. I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: kind of think. But to be honest, the Trump administra
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: should never really actually cared that much about reducing wasteful
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: spending or rooting out fraud and abuse. I mean, remember
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: how in the literal first week of his second term,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Trump unlawfully fired seventeen inspectors general across various federal agencies.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: The job of inspectors general is literally to root out waste, fraud,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and abuse within their assigned agencies. So when Trump fired
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: those igs, he was effectively saying, I actually don't care
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: that much about that at all. I mean. Fast forward
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: to today and the Washington Post reports that some of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the replacements Trump has picked to fill the empty ig
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: roles come from deeply partisan, deeply shady backgrounds. I mean,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: for example, Trump nominated a man named Thomas marsh Bell
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to be the Inspector General for Health and Human Services,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and back in the late nineties, Bell notably resigned from
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a state government job after he allegedly mishandled thousands of
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: dollars in taxpayer money. To be the IG for the VA,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Trump picked a woman named Cheryl Mason, a former senior
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: advisor to VA Secretary Doug Collins, the very cabinet secretary
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: she's supposed to be overseeing, which seems tough. And for
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the Department of Labor Inspector General, Trump nominated Anthony D.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: S Posito, who The Washington Post points out is a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: former Republican congressman who lost his New York seed after
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: he was accused of putting his mistress and his fiancee's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: daughter on his official taxpayer funded peril. Sometimes you just
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: can't make up the stories. Joining me now our two
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: former inspectors general who were fired by Trump earlier this year.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Market But is the former Inspector General the Department of Interior.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Rob Steorge is the former Inspector General at the Department
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of Defense. Thank you so much for being with me
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: here tonight. I think I told you both before we
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: got started that I remember many days of waking up
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and seeing there was a new Inspector General report that
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was going to be released, and when you're in the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: White House, you think, oh, something I can't say on television.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And I raised that because I think the relationship, in
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: my experience at least, and I think for most people
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: who worked in Democratic and Republican white houses, is respectful
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: but not friendly.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Why is that important, Well, you have to have some
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: level of remove. An inspector General can't be buddy buddy
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: with everyone.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: We know that.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: You know, we're sort of the skunk at the picnic,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and that's something that we take very seriously. That we
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: need to have some distance so that we can be independent,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: that we can call balls and strikes just like an
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: umpire and baseball, and that our findings are recommendations will
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: be viewed in a in a credible way because we're
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: not too close with either party. That's the key thing
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: for for inspectors General is to be independent, not political actors.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I totally agree. In fact, i'd add you know,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: when I was at the Department of Justice, we used
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: to say that you get on an elevator and everyone
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: would get off. Wasn't awkward on the on the elevator.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: But on the other hand, you know, good leaders of
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: whatever political persuasion, I think, appreciate it when people come
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: to them, let them know about issues and concerns and
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: give them an opportunity to address that. In order to
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: do that effectively, you can't be too close to the
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: people that you're over saying politically or otherwise.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And because your responsibility, I think you probably would Bill
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: see this to the American people and ensuring things are
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: efficient and there isn't abusive power or abusive programs. One
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: of the criteria and one of the reason I'm so
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: grateful you both are here is they's so important for
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: people to understand what these roles are because they're in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: every White House, every federal government. In the White House,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: but in every federal government. And there was a description
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: today in the Washington Post story by someone we're a
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: former official, who said, there are basic thresholds that you
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: need to meet in order to be a good inspector general.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Have you managed a big office before, have you done
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: investigations before, have you worked in this community Is that right?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: What is she missing?
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's absolutely right, and it's critically important. The law
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: has very clear requirements about what's allowed and what's not
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: allowed in nominating inspectors general. It's not allowed to consider
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: political affiliation, and that's critically important for the reasons that
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Mark and I have talked about. If you're seen as
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: a partisan, there's no way you can do hard hitting
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: oversight or do an inn a credible way. Right. So
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: the law is very clear that that's not allowed, and
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: it is very specific about what is allowed and what
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: is required is that the person have integrity and that
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: they have demonstrated ability in the areas that are relevant
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: to being an inspector general, law, accounting, investigations, and the like.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: And that's up to the president. Many people like that,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: and ultimately it's up to the United States Senate, which
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: has the confirmation power, to ensure that people who are
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: in these important roles meet those tests.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I started our segment just talking a little bit about
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: how there has been this constant restatement of rooting out waste,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: frauden abuse as the objective of this administration. Yet when
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you see that, when the firing which you both experience,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and then that the hiring or the suggestion they're going
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to hire some of the people I just talked through.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: What do you think of that stated goal of rooting
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: out waste frauden abuse.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Well, it's certainly problematic. I mean, I think three of
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the nominees, the three that you highlighted, are very problematic,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: and I would say make a mockery of the entire
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: inspector General construct, which is at root to get after
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: waste frauden abuse. These folks are I think unqualified, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I would argue that their actions are disqualifying as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: So it's very, very troubling from my perspective that these
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: nominees are for very important, significant positions. They on criminal investigations,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: ethics investigations, they do audits over massive programs. There's a
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: lot at stake here, and I think the American people
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: should be quite troubled by these nominees. Frankly, the three
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: of them that you highlighted, they're very, very problematic.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: It feels like once people should really pay attention to
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the Senate has a role's advice and consent
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: how it all works. The Senate has a role what
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: should they be asking, how should they be, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: quizzing these these nominees well.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: As I mentioned, there are two criterion the statute. One
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: is integrity and one is their demonstrated ability in the
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: relevant areas. And when it comes to integrity, that's what
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: have you done over your life? Do you have the integrity?
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: I used to tell my folks all the time. We
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: live in the glassiest of glass houses. Right, if you're
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: going to do oversight over the programs in personnel of
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: a major department within our government, you better have the
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: integrity necessary to lead that operation, right, And so the
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Senate should be asking about that, and then also about
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: the qualifications. Do these people really have the qualifications or
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: are they being appointed for what are essentially political reasons?
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: And in that regard, I'd say another thing I used
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: to tell my folks all the time is that so
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: much of what we do in the IG community is
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: a political interest to someone that it's absolutely essential that
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: we be nonpartisan and not even have a hint of
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: partisanship in our work.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You have to leave it there. I hope you too
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: will come back. This is so important for people to
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: understand marketing blat. Rob Storg, thank you so much for
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: joining me and thank you, thank you for having me
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: coming up. Do you remember the n run scandal. I
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: bet you you do. Well. One provision buried deep down
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: in Donald Trump's big nasty bill that open the door
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to corporate broad just like that, and two people who
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: blew the lid off the biggest corporate one of the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: biggest corporate scandals in the nation's history, are once again
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: sound in the alarm. They're going to join me to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: talk about it when we come back.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Y