ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Reporting Highlights Errors: DOGE staffers exposed a sensitive U.S.-funded Afghanistan program and falsely suggested a contractor was involved in an off-books mission. Consequences: DOGE’s public outing led to a Taliban intelligence service […]
DOGE Has Wasted Billions While Saving Only a Fraction of What It Claims: Reports
The Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency has been a project largely defined by ever-diminishing expectations. At the outset of DOGE’s journey, its chief operator, Elon Musk, famously claimed, in a bout of wild optimism, that he hoped to cut “at least” $2 trillion out of the federal budget. Not long after the election, Musk […]
A Bug at Social Security Admin Has Been Rerouting Phone Calls to Random Offices
A technical issue at the Social Security Administration recently caused phone calls to various field offices to be routed to other offices that didn’t have jurisdiction over the claims, thus making service fulfillment difficult. On Tuesday, NPR reported that the agency’s field offices were having difficulties connecting callers to the proper staff who could fulfill […]
The White House Has a Plan for All That Foreign Food Aid That DOGE Cut: Burn It
After significantly cutting America’s humanitarian aid operations earlier this year, the Trump administration now has a surplus of food that it can’t use. What will become of it? The White House has a simple plan: incinerate it. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency unleashed a barrage on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier […]
White House Fears Elon Musk Is Still Pulling the Strings at DOGE
Elon Musk and the Trump administration parted ways a little over a month ago and, since then, the Tesla billionaire and the president have been locked in a war of words over Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which Musk views as harmful to his business interests. Despite Elon’s dramatic departure from the government, many of […]
DOGE Gets the Green Light to Slash Gun Regulations at ATF
Elon Musk may be out of the picture, but the Department of Government Efficiency is still around and being deployed to terrorize the public servants at agencies across the federal government. The latest target: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where DOGE will be tasked with slashing gun restrictions, according to the Washington […]
Elon Musk’s Moment of Regret
On March 15, 2021, a rather unusual detail emerged in a Tesla filing with the SEC: Elon Musk’s official title was listed as “Technoking of Tesla.” The billionaire later clarified this whimsical change as a humorous jab at corporate formalities. Yet, beyond the jest, it perfectly encapsulated his audacious approach: deeply unconventional, unconcerned with tradition, […]
The Trump Administration Is Launching an AI Chatbot
Chatbots are notoriously sources of misinformation and false confidence, so surely imbuing one with the authority of the federal government won’t cause any problems, right? 404 Media spotted a GitHub repository that shows the Trump administration is working on its very own chatbot that appears set to eventually launch on its own website, AI.gov. According […]
Trump Admits ‘Elon’s Really Not Leaving’ During DOGE Press Conference
President Donald Trump held a bizarre press conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, ostensibly to wave goodbye to the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But both Trump and Musk essentially admitted that the billionaire oligarch wasn’t really going anywhere, at least when it comes […]
Elon Musk Won’t Stop Whining
Just a few months ago, Elon Musk was wielding a chainsaw on stage at CPAC as he bragged about how he was going to dismantle the federal government. The billionaire oligarch helped shut down USAID, accessed private information on U.S. citizens, and tried to steal an entire $500 million building. But now Musk seems to […]