Big swings, big misses: DOGE struggles to back up its outsized claims
Elon Musk’s cost-cutting and fraud-finding apparatus, the Department of Government Efficiency, came out swinging in recent days.
The result? Two stunning strikeouts.
A series of announcements by DOGE, as well as claims by Musk and Trump about the agency’s efforts, have crumbled under scrutiny even as they’re broadly repeated by conservative pundits, sympathetic media and the White House.
Two of the most notable claims — around Social Security fraud and $8 billion in savings found in a Department of Homeland Security contract — have been debunked. Meanwhile, Trump’s agenda is set to add to the federal government’s deficit well in excess of what DOGE is cutting.
Zelenskyy says Trump is influenced by Russian ‘disinformation’
As Trump moves closer to Russia and away from support for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being forced to defend his position as the legitimate leader of a country suffering an illegal war of aggression.
Some GOP senators distance themselves from Trump's calling Zelenskyy a 'dictator'
A handful of GOP senators gently distanced themselves from Trump's calling Zelenskyy “a Dictator without Elections” and falsely blaming him for starting the war with Russia. But senators were reluctant to call out Trump by name.
“I wouldn’t use the same word,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she would “certainly not call Zelenskyy a dictator.”
Zelenskyy has been a “key component” of Ukraine’s ability to withstand the Russian attacks, said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he hadn’t seen Trump’s dictator remarks but said, “It’s not a word I would use.”
“Make no mistake about it. That invasion was the responsibility of one human being on the face of this planet. It was Vladimir Putin in a calculation to go through Ukraine and not stop there, to go through Moldova, to go through the Balkans, to ultimately go to the Baltic states and send the signal to China that now is the time that they can take action in the South China Sea,” Tillis told reporters.
“That’s what this is about, and that’s what we as members have to communicate," he said.
Trump said yesterday that Ukraine “started” the war with Russia, when, in fact, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a Trump ally, said he disagreed with that characterization.
“Here’s where I disagree with the White House: To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree. I think Vladimir Putin started the war,” Kennedy told reporters today. “I also believe, through bitter experience, that Vladimir Putin is a gangster.”
Other GOP senators said Trump was right to call out Zelenskyy for postponing elections in Ukraine. The country was supposed to hold a presidential election last spring, but it was delayed because of the war.
“He should have elections. He [Trump] is not wrong about that,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “We had elections during the Second World War. Democracies have elections. So I think he’s right to call Zelenskyy on that. He is the elected leader of Ukraine, but he’s also imposed martial law not letting people vote.”
Trump administration reverses approval of New York City congestion pricing
The Trump administration today terminated federal approval of New York’s “congestion pricing” automobile tolls, which were instituted just last month to raise money for the region’s aging mass transit system.
In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the federal government has jurisdiction over highways leading to Manhattan and that the additional tolls posed an unfair burden in motorists outside the city.
Duffy called the tolls, targeting Manhattan-bound drivers, “backwards and unfair.”
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy said in statement.
Mike Pence fires back at Trump's claim that Ukraine started the war against Russia
Former Vice President Mike Pence pushed back against Trump's recent comment that Ukraine is responsible for the war with Russia — a claim that drew condemnation in Ukraine.
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war," Pence wrote in a post on X. "Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives."
"The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth," Pence wrote.
Trump ripped into Volodymyr Zelenskyy this morning in a Truth Social post that blamed him for the destruction in his country following comments he made to reporters yesterday that claimed the Ukraine "should have never started" the war.
In his post today, Trump's former vice president linked to a Fox News article from February 2022 with the headline, "Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII."
Senate confirms former Sen. Kelly Loeffler as Small Business Administration head
The Senate confirmed former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., to be administrator of the Small Business Administration by a vote of 52-46 along party lines.
The next Cabinet nominee up in the queue is Kash Patel, whose final confirmation vote to be FBI director is expected tomorrow morning.
Vance calls Zelenskyy's response to Trump 'disgraceful'
In an interview with The National Pulse, Vance called Zelenskyy's recent criticisms of Trump "disgraceful."
“He’s attacking the only reason this country exists, publicly, right now," Vance said, condemning Zelenskyy for saying Trump is trapped in a “disinformation bubble” when it came to the Russia-Ukraine war.
"And it’s disgraceful. And it’s not something that is going to move the President of the United States. In fact, it’s going to have the opposite effect," Vance continued.
Kennedy Center cancels Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., performance
A Kennedy Center concert that was to feature the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the National Symphony Orchestra on May 21 has been canceled, adding to a growing list of schedule changes announced since Trump purged the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees and appointed himself chairman earlier this month.
The concert was set to take place in late May to kick off national Pride Month celebrations. The performance was removed last night from the center’s programming schedule and replaced with a National Symphony Orchestra rendition of "The Wizard of Oz" movie score.
“We are deeply disappointed with the news that our upcoming Pride performance with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) has been canceled,” the choral group said in a statement posted to their Instagram account. The chorus was planning to debut a pride piece titled "A Peacock Among Pigeons," it said, noting they had been excited to collaborate with the orchestra.
“We believe in the power of music to educate and uplift, to foster love, understanding, and community, and we regret that this opportunity has been taken away,” the chorus said in the statement.
The chorus added they will still perform "A Peacock Among Pigeons" during their upcoming Choral Festival as part of the WorldPride 2025 tour, in an effort to "seek spaces where our voices, our stories, and our music can be heard," the statement said.
Trump fired multiple Biden-era appointees from the center’s board this month, including former State Secretary Antony Blinken and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and appointed longtime loyalist Ric Grennell, who served several positions during Trump’s first term and is currently his envoy for special missions, as interim executive director.
“No more drag shows, or other anti-American propaganda — only the best," Trump wrote in all capital letters in a Truth Social post last week after announcing himself as the center’s chair.
The White House and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
DOGE is at the Pentagon
Employees of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the Pentagon this week and have been seen there since Tuesday. The Pentagon won’t share their names or what they are doing. Trump, in remarks on Feb. 13, suggested cutting the U.S. military budget in half.
Trump Media sues Brazil Supreme Court judge who battled Elon Musk
Trump Media and its fellow conservative-oriented social media company Rumble today sued a Brazil Supreme Court justice whose clash last year with Elon Musk led to the blocking of Musk’s own social media firm, X, in that country.
The Tampa, Florida, federal court lawsuit accuses Justice Alexandre de Moraes of allegedly illegal attempts to censor a “well-known politically outspoken user” of Rumble with orders to suspend that user’s U.S.-based accounts.
The new lawsuit suit notes that Trump Media’s social media site Truth Social “relies on Rumble’s cloud-based hosting and video streaming infrastructure to deliver multimedia content to its user base.”
“If Rumble were to be shut down, that shut down would necessarily interfere with Truth Social’s operations, as well,” the suit says.
The suit was filed a day after Brazil’s prosecutor-general charged the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, with an attempted coup as he tried to remain in office following his 2022 election loss. Bolsonaro — who was invited to Trump’s inauguration last month — is accused of participating in a plot with nearly three dozen other people, which allegedly planned to poison current Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and kill Moraes.