Trump says anti-fraud efforts are uncovering billions in waste, claims savings could balance budget

In a Truth Social post, Trump praised Vance and Republican officials for what he described as a nationwide effort to identify fraud and waste in government spending.

"Vice President JD Vance and Republicans are doing a great job hunting down Fraud in the various States," Trump wrote. "Billions of Dollars is being found, and we've just started!"

Officials said nearly 400 businesses would be required to prove they had legitimate operations and physical addresses.

"If we found it all, we would literally be able to balance the Budget, and simultaneously reduce Taxes, cutting them even more than I have already done, which is a RECORD!" Trump wrote.

Trump also sharply criticized Democrats, saying he was surprised efforts to uncover fraud had not received bipartisan support.

"Amazingly, Dumocrats are fighting us all the way," Trump wrote. "This is something that I am surprised at, because I thought this would be a Bipartisan effort."

Trump went on to suggest Democrats may oppose such investigations because they have a vested interest in preventing further discoveries.

"It's looking like they're in on the act," Trump wrote.

The president further claimed Democrats do not want Republicans to uncover what he described as "Hundreds of Billions of Dollars of FRAUD!"

Trump later compared Democratic opposition to anti-fraud efforts with several other issues that have become central themes of his political messaging, including transgender athletes competing in women's sports, mail-in ballots, voter identification requirements and proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting.

Democrats have argued Republicans frequently conflate fraud, waste and policy disagreements when discussing federal spending reductions and have questioned whether projected savings touted by the administration can ultimately be realized.