トランプ氏、マスク氏の仕事ぶり高評価　不正暴露に「貢献」

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ米大統領は９日に放送されたＦＯＸニュースのインタビューで、政府効率化省（ＤＯＧＥ）を率いる実業家イーロン・マスク氏は連邦機関における「数千億ドルの不正」を暴くのに「大いに貢献している」と述べた。（写真はドナルド・トランプ米大統領）
　トランプ氏は「われわれは数十億、数千億ドルの不正や悪用を見つけるつもりだ。有権者はそのために私を選んだ」と語った。
　トランプ氏は大統領就任後３週間で、連邦支出削減に向け数々の大統領令を発出。政権は、トランプ氏が終了または縮小すべきだと考える政府プロジェクトをやり玉に挙げているが、広範な違法行為や不正の証拠は示されていない。
　マスク氏はすでに、対外人道支援を管轄する国際開発庁（ＵＳＡＩＤ）の閉鎖に向けて前例のない措置を講じ、職員数千人を解雇した。
　インタビューでトランプ氏は、２、３日中に教育省にメスを入れるようマスク氏に指示すると発言。さらに「その次は軍だ」とし、約８５００億ドル（約１３２兆円）の予算を持つ国防総省の支出見直しを掲げた。
　■「民主主義の破壊」
　トランプ氏の有力な支援者で盟友でもあるマスク氏は、自ら所有する企業が米政府と数十億ドル規模の契約を結んでいることもあり、非難を浴びている。民主党のマーク・ポカン下院議員によると、その額は２００億ドル（約３兆円）を超える。
　この点についてトランプ氏は、マスク氏はＤＯＧＥでの仕事を通じ、経済的利益は「何も得ていない」と否定した。
　トランプ氏が打ち出している一連の改革を非難する民主党のクリス・マーフィー上院議員は９日、ＡＢＣニュースのトークショーで「憲法への攻撃」だと警告し、トランプ氏が「大富豪による政府の乗っ取り」を進めていると批判。「大統領は自身の政治的盟友に報酬を与え、政敵を罰するために資金の使途を自由に決められるようにしたいのだ。民主主義の破壊に他ならない」と糾弾した。
　だが、共和党のマイク・ジョンソン下院議長は、トランプ氏が権限を逸脱しているという懸念や、政府機関の改革を急ぎすぎているといった批判を繰り返し軽視。ＦＯＸニュースの日曜番組では「進め方に不安は感じない」と述べた。また、マスク氏について「外部監査人」と表現し、同氏率いるチームは「公的財政の驚くべき乱用」を暴いているとも指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/02/10-16:57）

US President Donald Trump said in remarks aired Sunday that Elon Musk, who is presiding over a purge of government jobs, will help find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud in federal agencies.
Speaking in a Fox News interview aired before the Super Bowl football championship, Trump said the American people want me to find waste and that Musk, the world's richest man and the leader of the president's cost-cutting efforts, has been a great help in rooting out unnecessary spending.
We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. And, you know, the people elected me on that, Trump told Fox News Channel's Bret Baier.
During his three weeks in office the president has unleashed a flurry of executive orders aimed at slashing federal spending. He has appointed SpaceX and Tesla boss Musk to lead his federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The administration has highlighted several government projects Trump believes should be ended or curtailed, but evidence of any widespread illegal activity or fraud has not been presented.
Musk has already taken unprecedented steps to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID), laying off thousands of employees.
On Friday, a federal judge ordered a temporary pause to the administration's plan to put 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave.
In the interview, Trump claimed there was hundreds of millions of dollars of money that's going to places where it shouldn't be going.
Trump said in his interview that over the next day or so he will order Musk to turn his government scalpel to the Department of Education, a frequent target of Republican ire.
Then I'm going to go to the military, Trump said, reiterating his call for a review of spending at the Pentagon, whose budget totals some $850 billion.
Trump also doubled down on a scheme to annex Canada, saying the United States' northern neighbor would be much better off being a 51st state, because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada.
Since taking office, Trump has characterized billions of dollars in daily bilateral trade as a US subsidy and claimed without evidence that Canada would not be a viable country without it.
Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with a 25-percent tariff on all imports, suspending the measures after striking deals with both countries on plans to curb illegal immigration and the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.
Both countries secured a one-month delay after the 11th-hour talks with Trump, but on Sunday the US leader warned what had been done so far was not enough.
Something has to happen, it's not sustainable, and I'm changing it, he said, when asked if both countries needed to do more before the 30-day deadline.
- 'Evisceration of democracy' -
The role of Musk, a top Trump donor and ally, in the president's projects has faced criticism in part because his companies have had billions of dollars in contracts with the US government -- more than $20 billion, according to House Democrat Mark Pocan.
Asked whether he trusts Musk to fairly root out wasteful spending, Trump appeared to assert that the wealthy entrepreneur and his businesses are not benefiting financially through Musk's work with DOGE.
He's not gaining anything, Trump said.
Democrats have lined up to slam Trump's various efforts, including Senator Chris Murphy, who on Sunday warned of an assault on the Constitution and said Trump was ushering in a billionaire takeover of government.
The president wants to be able to decide how and where money is spent so that he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies. That is the evisceration of democracy, Murphy told ABC News talk show This Week.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress, has repeatedly downplayed concerns that Trump is exceeding his authority or rushing too quickly to overhaul the federal government, including agencies like USAID.
I'm not uncomfortable with the pace of this, Johnson told Fox News Sunday.
The speaker described Musk as an outside auditor whose team is uncovering incredible abuses of the public fisc, referring to the total amount of money a government has to spend.
Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declined to say Sunday whether he believed it was a conflict of interest to have Musk, whose companies hold government defense contracts, oversee cost-cutting at the Pentagon.
Everything there seems to cost too much, take too long and deliver too little to the soldiers, Waltz told NBC of Pentagon expenses.
En route to the Super Bowl, Trump flew over the Gulf of Mexico, which he has ordered renamed the Gulf of America, and signed a proclamation recognizing February 9 as Gulf of America Day.