Government Watchdog Torches Elon Musk’s DOGE’s Claimed Savings: ‘Incorrect’

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing renewed scrutiny after a congressional watchdog concluded that many of the agency’s headline-grabbing claims about taxpayer savings were either unsupported or simply wrong.

A report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that DOGE’s public “Wall of Receipts” — created during Elon Musk’s tenure leading the cost-cutting initiative — included savings estimates that “some savings estimates are incorrect or lack supporting evidence.”

Among the examples cited by the GAO was a Defense Department information technology contract that DOGE claimed generated more than $1.7 billion in savings. According to the report, the agency initially identified the contract for termination and met with Pentagon officials but ultimately chose not to cancel it.

“While no action was taken on the contract, the Wall of Receipts continued to report savings of more than $1.7 billion,” GAO stated.

The watchdog also found it could not verify many of DOGE’s claimed savings because the agency did not explain how it calculated them. That included tens of billions of dollars in reported savings from canceled grants. At another point, the GAO said DOGE claimed roughly $15 million in savings from federal property leases that had already been scheduled for termination before the agency was established, ultimately overstating lease savings by $59.5 million.

The findings add official weight to previous Politico reporting that questioned DOGE’s accounting, determining that just $1.4 billion of the agency’s alleged $32.7 billion in contract savings appeared accurate. The GAO report concluded Thursday that unreliable data can undermine both policymakers and the public, warning, “The data quality issues identified in this report limit the value of the Wall of Receipts to policymakers,” and adding, “when government data are not reliable, it can hinder the public’s trust in government.”

In July, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) slammed Trump’s budget director Russell Vought over the matter, emphasizing, “I love the idea of DOGE, but what I don’t love is the idea of DOGE sh*t that we’re picking up because people did it wrong.”

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