Trump names JD Vance as 'fraud czar' to fight waste at federal and state levels

Donald Trump officially appointed JD Vance in charge of the Fraud Elimination Task Force. The president starred in the signing of the executive order in the Oval Room, in which the vice president also participated. There, Trump assured that the White House will work with state and local governments to end the waste of taxpayer money.

During the event, Trump baptized Vance as the "fraud czar" and described him as a "brilliant" person to wage this battle. The Republican had already previewed the creation of an anti-fraud task force during his State of the Union speech.

"In light of widespread revelations of fraud in federally funded programs in states like Minnesota and California, this executive order in front of you will establish a new task force aimed at rooting out that fraud, returning potentially billions or tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars to the American taxpayer," White House staff secretary Will Scharf explained.

The executive order signed by the president instructs the task force to develop a national strategy against fraud affecting programs administered by state and local governments to provide housing, food, medical and financial assistance.

Recently, two episodes of potential fraud with public funds drew national attention in Minnesota and Massachusetts.

"When we first started talking about this problem, the president made it very clear he wanted us to take the fraud problem seriously because nobody had until he was president. We started to figure out one big hole that existed is that the agencies of government weren't actually talking to each other. So Treasury would have evidence of financial fraud, but wasn't talking to the Department of Justice about it. Health and Human Services had evidence of Medicaid fraud, but wasn't talking to Department of Treasury about it. So what this executive order does is force the entire apparatus of the federal government to do two things. Stop the fraud of the American taxpayer and make sure that the benefits that ought by right go to American citizens, go to American citizens and not to fraudsters," Vice President Vance said.

Later, a reporter asked Trump why he thought other leaders had not gone so directly against fraud, to which he responded as follows, "Because they're crooked. They make money, they gain power, like with the Somalians. They make a deal with the Somalians, they all vote because they're on a gravy train. (...) It´s money first, power second."

The vice president will be joined by Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, who will serve as vice chairman of the group. In turn, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for political affairs, will serve as senior advisor.