Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Ticking Clock on U.S.–Iran 60-Day Ceasefire Deal plus The Explosive Rise of Federal Fraud

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Ticking Clock on U.S.–Iran 60-Day Ceasefire Deal plus The Explosive Rise of Federal Fraud · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's start with what's happening in Iran and what we're
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: witnessing maybe the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: There are now multiple reports that say the United States
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and Iran have agreed in principle to a framework for
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a sixty day ceasefire deal. But there's one signature that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: still matters above all others, and that is President Donald
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Trump's now making no mistake. This isn't happening because Iran
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: suddenly wanted peace. Iran's economy is collapsing under the crushing pressure.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Their oil experts have been hammered, their military infrastructure has
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: taken the massive hits, and the STRATIFORMUZ crisis has rattled
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: global markets. And now the regime appears to be searching
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: for a lifeline before the situation gets out of control
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for them, which means they lose control of their own country.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen how the news
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: was broken on Fox News channel about the sixty day deal.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: US officials confirming to Fox News that American and Iranian
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: negotiators have reached a sixty day seasfire extension a memorandum
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: of understanding. The question now is whether or not, President
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Trump and Iran Supreme Leader Mustaba Kamanai will sign off
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: to move this deal forward. As part of the current framework,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: we are told this would extend the seasfire and open
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the Strait of horm moves. The issue of Iran's nuclear
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: program would be pushed down the road. And already we're
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: starting to see a splinter in the positions, at least
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: announced by Iranian state media and announced by President Trump.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You'll remember yesterday during that cabinet meeting, the President said
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: he would not be comfortable with Iran exporting their highly
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: enriched geranium to a third party country like China or Russia.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: We do know a top Pakistani diplomat is expected in
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Washington tomorrow. Some of these finer details will likely be
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: worked out in the days and weeks ahead. But as
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: you said, John, the devil here is the details, because
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: when we look at a situation like this, we have
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: been here before, only to see the Iranians step back
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: at the negotiating table and try to drag things out longer.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: The other question has to do with enforcement and where
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: President Trump stands in terms of actually enforcing some sort
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: of agreement with the Iranians. What would be considered a
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: ceasefire violation if this agreement is extended. We saw overnight
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the Iranians launching drones toward a commercial vessel that was
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Ultimately, sentcoms
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: shot down those incoming projectiles and then struck Iranian territory.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: The Iranians responded with a ballistic missile and drone attack
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: against a US base in Kuwait, and it gives you
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a sense of just how quickly things can unravel in
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the region. So again US sources confirming to Fox News
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: that a sixty day memorandum of understanding was reached between
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: American and Iranian negotiators. The question now, will this agreement
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: be signed off in terms of Tehran and Washington at
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the very top level agreeing to move forward into this
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: extended ceasefire.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Now, after that news broke, there was a White House
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: press conference and the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessen was speaking
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: about Trump weighing this Iranian proposal. And here is what
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the Treasury Secretary had to say.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: With the Iranian government, we did not have regime change,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: but we changed the regime. As President Trump said at
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: the Cabinet meeting. As we've said other times, the first
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: layer of leadership's eliminated, the second layer, and we are
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: now at the third layer. And the way to think
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: about it is the Iranian government such as it is,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: is three pillars. It is the elected government, it is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: the IRGC, and it is the clerics, and they are
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: having trouble communicating. So we are being patient. We do
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: not have unlimited patients. President Trump always prefers a peace steal,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: so everything we have done thus far has been defensive,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: and at present that is what we will continue doing.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: But if President Trump doesn't think he can get a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: peace deal, then Connecticut is back now.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: The Treasury Secretary also wasn't done there. After making that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: clear warning, he also said that President Trump is just
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: not going to do a bad deal with I Ran.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: This echoing with President Trump had said several days ago
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: when he said he is not going to be bullied
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: by RAN and they're not using the midterm elections for
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: any type of advantage. He made it very clear he
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: is going to make sure that Ran never gets a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: nuclear weapon, and there is no timeline for the President
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to get a deal done. Well, the Treasury Secretary is
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: saying this about taking it as a well, there's no
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: deal if it's a bad deal.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: So ed, thank you, miss, said Craig.
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: I guess first, well, we're starting to see this disruption
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: of the oil supply and food stapeforms affect economic data. First,
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: is there a deal on the table for sixty day
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: seats fire to continue that? And then second how fast
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: could inflation then recede or retreat?
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: War is inflation sticky because the PCE was a three year.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: High for prison pc E did an month over month
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: with point two, which was we're looking at decimal points,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: but the estimate was point three, So one month doesn't
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: a trend make. And what we've seen is actually oil
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: prices are down about ten percent in May. There are
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: almost two thousand ships waiting to come out of the Gulf,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: and I think the oil market is going to be
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: very well supplied on the other side of this, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: that we could see prices come down very quickly. We
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: saw the UAE they leave Opek, so I would expect
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: on the other side of this that gasoline prices will follow.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: On the table, Sorry, is there an agreement with Iran
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: on the table?
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: The teams have been going back and forth and President
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Trump has made it very clear, he talked about it
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: at the Cabinet meeting that he has several red lines,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: and Iran has to turn over their highly enriched uranium.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: They cannot pursue a nuclear weapon. And the Strait of
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: removed back to your question on energy, has to free,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: transit navigation of the seas has to be free and
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: open as it was before. So he's not going to
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: take a bad deal. He's going to make a great
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: deal for the American people.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Now, all this is happening as tensions are still extremely high.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: The US Central Command SYCOM, they accused of ran on
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Thursday of a quote egregious ceasefire violation for firing a
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: ballistic missile at Kuwait and then launching five one way
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz. SINCOM said the ballistic missile was
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces, while the drones were all
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: successfully intercepted by US forces as well. Now, in addition,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: American forces quote prevented a six drone launch from an
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Iranian ground control site. US Central Command and regional partners
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: remained vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: forces and inter from unjustified Iranian aggression, the statement said
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: as well. Now, Iran claimed it was just retaliating for
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: what the Pentagon described as self defense strikes on Monday
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: directed against Iranian missile on sites and mine laying boats
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: as well. Iranian state media reports implied the target of
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the ballistic missiles fired at Kuwait by the Islamic Revolutionary
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Guard known as the RGC was an American air base
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: that was involved in these self defense strikes. The Kiwaiti
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Foreign Minister also called the Iranian attack a blatant violation
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: of sovereignty as well as security. It further declared its
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: strongest condemnation of the criminal Iranian attacks, which it described
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: as a dangerous escalation. Kuwait's neighbors, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and the UAE, also denounced the latest Iranian attacks, saying
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: this these terrorist attacks constituted a flagrant violation of the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: sovereignty of Kuwait and a threat to its security. Instability
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: is what the UAA Foreign Minister said to clearing full
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: solidarity with Kuwait and support for all measures amid a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: safeguarding its security and stability. Now, Kuwait and its neighbors
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: are all members of the Golf Corporation Council known as
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the GCC. The Security General also condemned it in the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: strongest possible terms that continued henis Iranian attacks on the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: state of Kuwait will not be tolerated, saying the persistence
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of these treacherous attacks constitution not only a flagrant violation
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of the principles of international law, the United Nations UN Charter,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and the principles of good neighborliness is what the statement
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: said as well. Now, there's two things happening here that
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: are very clear. You have the present trying to get
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a good deal, a deal that makes sure that Iran
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: doesn't have nuclear weapons, while Iran is also popping off shots.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: One thing is very clear. Next twenty four to forty
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: eight hours could be extremely important in dealing with all
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: of this, and we'll keep you updated. The federal agency
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: overseeing more than one hundred and twenty six billion dollars
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: and federal contracts is joining now we are learning Vice
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: President JD Vance's Anti Fraud Task Force, expanding the White
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: House's crackdown into the federal government's contracting system. The General
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Services Administration calls itself the engine of government and serves
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: as the federal government's central contracting and real estate agency. Now,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: this is really big because they oversee the buildings, the services,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and the goods agencies rely on to operate, and by
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: joining the task Force, the GSA gives one of the
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Trump administration's highest profile accountability efforts access to its procurement data,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: its acquisition expertise, and cross agency reach. As the White
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: House now seeks to root out even more fraud in
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the Public Programs Department, the GSA sits at the center
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: of the federal acquisition and contracting ecosystem, making us a
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: critical force in the fight against fraud, is what the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: GSA administrator Forced said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Now,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: this also comes as we're learning just how much fraud
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: is actually out there. Six point three billion in potential
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: fraud was uncovered recently. As Fox News explained, it.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: Team has identified nearly six point three billion dollars and
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: suspected fraudulent government contracts. Now, nearly four hundred businesses are
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: on the clock today to prove those contracts are legitimate.
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: They have thirty days to do it or they lose
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: their funding. And we are learning more about the shocking
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: ways alleged fraudsters are spending your money. How This is
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: from the California Post. In San Diego, one one is
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: charged with stealing money ear marked to fight fentonel overdoses,
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: but prosecutors say some of that thirty thousand dollars went
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: to her cosmetic procedures, breast implants, tweaks to her arms
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: and thighs, and a Tommy tuck. That's your money. She
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: also bought flights to Hawaii and Disneyland and got a
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: couple of purebred dogs. Now in Los Angeles, a man
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: allegedly used stolen funds to pay for a seven million
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: dollar home, a one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: range rover, private school tuition, a private jet, luxury resorts stays,
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: and a vacation property in Greece. Now elsewhere in southern California,
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: a man accused of using funds set aside to fight
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: homelessness used them on his extravagant parties. A forty six
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: thousand dollars a month Beverly Hills mansion, twenty VIP passes
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: to Coachella, and high end jewelry and handbags costing up
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: to one hundred and sixty three thousand dollars, but instead
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: of recovering what the state lost to fraud, Los Angeles
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: mayre Caaren Bass is asking for an additional six three
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: hundred and sixty million dollars to prevent homelessness. Isn't that nice?
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: And finally, a former top ad to Gavin Newsom is
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: accused of making bogus business expenses topping a million dollars
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: and using that cash to go on a spending spree
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: which included a fifteen thousand dollars Chanel handbag and a
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: one hundred and fifty six thousand dollars birthday blowout in Mexico.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: Must be nice, and plenty of fraudsters are sending their
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: money overseas. On Monday, at California, resident confess to funneling
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: more than five million dollars in contracts to China in Nigeria,
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: and last week's CMS administrator, Doctor Oz told me that
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: the Cuban government might have their hands in the cookie jar.
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: We have rampin fraud here and we believe the Cuban
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: government might be involved in this effort. I was in Flushing, Queens,
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: New York, where we Chinese are involved in a program
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: that is defrauding that state with these adult social daycare centers,
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: which are basically congregation centers for fraud. Again, the states looking.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: The other way.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Now, it's my good friend Kaylee Mcininni explains, so well, there,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the waste, fraud abuse is just completely out of control.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And that's why the GSA, bringing their advanced analytical capabilities
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and their investigative support and their cross government coordination, will
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: now expose what they describe as the high risk fraud
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: patterns and then they say, stop the bad actors from
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: exploiting our taxpayer funded system. Now, the White House Task
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Force is very clear on what their objective is. President
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump said through the executive order that his job
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: was simple to give the tools needed to reduce fraud, waste,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: and abuse in our federal programs. It's chaired, as you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: by the Vice President, and that task force is now
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: improving eligibility verification, strengthening payment controls, and sharing data across agencies,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: as well as helping law enforcement disrupt the fraud schemes altogether. Now,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: there's also something else that's interesting here. The GSA has
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: actually historically had some major problems with improper payments going out.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: In February, for instance, the agency's Office of Inspector General
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: released the report finding that federal customer agencies relying on
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: GSA pricing on scheduled contracts, they say, are at risk
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of major overpayment due to failure from government contracting officers
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: or inaccurate information submitted by contractors as well. Now, the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: White House Fraud task Force that was established just in
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: March has already racked up a few big wins. In
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the week since. Law enforcement working in conjunction with the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: task Force has already arrested eight people in California on
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: suspicions of defrauding public health care services out of more
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: than fifty million dollars. The task force also is withheld
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: one point four billion in federal funding from home health
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: care and hospice providers suspected defrauding the government. The GSA's
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Participation Reinforce is now a whole of government strategy that's
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: focused on restoring accountability, strengthening operational integrity, and ensuring federal
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: programs deliver results for the American people, the press release continues.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: They said, by combating the task force investigative mission with
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the GSA's government wide infrastructure and procurement expertise. The administration
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: is accelerating efforts to increase the transparency, improve efficiency, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: reinforce public trust in the federal operations. Now this all
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: comes as President Trump said this about government waste.
• 15:44
  Speaker 8: Under the leadership of Vice President JD. Van's very proud
• 15:48
  Speaker 8: of this. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: is waging war on waste, fraud, theft, and abuse like
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: nobody's ever seen before.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: He looks like Elliott Ness you ever see Elliot.
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: I'm telling you, the guys that are rubbing theirs standing there.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: What a group of people. No, it looks like a movie.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: I'm going to make a movie out of it.
• 16:10
  Speaker 8: And they're finding billions and billions and billions of dollars.
• 16:14
  Speaker 8: And I just said, that's good. He said, you haven't
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: seen anything yet.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: Just said that.
• 16:19
  Speaker 8: And you know, if he does really great, we'll have
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: a balanced budget without having to do anything. This is
• 16:24
  Speaker 8: the kind of money they sold. Their crooks, their thieves.
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: And I hope that Todd is going to do a
• 16:30
  Speaker 8: real job. These are crooked people, These are thieves. This
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: isn't like a mistake. Just talking about one person. He
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: got hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars for securing one man,
• 16:43
  Speaker 8: for taking care of one elderly man. He was a service.
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: He got paid millions of dollars for taking care of
• 16:49
  Speaker 8: one man. Total crook. They're all crooks, the Somalians, what
• 16:55
  Speaker 8: they've done to Minnesota.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: The Somalians crooked as well.
• 17:00
  Speaker 8: Elon Omar crooked has held their old crooks and we
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: got them.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: We got them. Now we're putting the clamps on.
• 17:07
  Speaker 8: But boy, that's an oppressive group of guys that get
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: behind you.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: I was watching that, and a couple of very strong
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: women too, So I was watching that last night. I said,
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: I'm proud of you guys.
• 17:19
  Speaker 8: In two months, we've exposed tens of billions of dollars
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: of defraud a tax payer money, prosecuted numerous fraudsers Todd
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: and stopped billions of suspicious payments, very suspicious.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Oh you haven't seen anything yet. What do you see?
• 17:32
  Speaker 8: I'm getting reports from Todd, from JD. I've never seen
• 17:36
  Speaker 8: anything like it, the kind of just hundreds of billions
• 17:41
  Speaker 8: of dollars was stolen, and no other administration would do
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: what we're doing and let it go.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: Everybody was getting rich.
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: And I think we have a chance to save Social
• 17:52
  Speaker 8: Security without doing anything to it by just that the
• 17:56
  Speaker 8: numbers of fraudilent people on Social Security, people that are
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: a hundred fifteen years old, one hundred and twenty five
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: years old, geddy payments. It's funny, I said, Oh, do
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: those payments get turned back? No, they accepted. Somebody's got
• 18:11
  Speaker 8: in the It's not a person that's one hundred and
• 18:13
  Speaker 8: twenty five years old. But that's the least of it.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: The numbers that we're finding out. We have great people
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: at Social Security. We're going to make our social Security
• 18:20
  Speaker 8: so strong, so good that you never see anything like it.
• 18:25
  Speaker 8: We're going to protect I said right from the beginning,
• 18:27
  Speaker 8: We're going to protect our.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: People in Social Security.
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: If the Democrats ever got in, you wouldn't have say
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: social Security would be bankrupt.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: People wouldn't be getting anything.
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: Last week they took down two of the largest medicaid
• 18:39
  Speaker 8: fraud cases in Minnesota history.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: So there you have it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: It's pretty clear. The President, I says, of America, Donald
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Trump saying we're going to keep coming. We're going after
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the fraud or waging a war on the waste and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the abuse, like no one's ever seen before that coming
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: from the White House, Vice President Jadie Vance stood at
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the center what the Trump administration is calling an all
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: out war on government fraud, waste, and abuse. And the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: headlines coming out of the Anti Fraud roundtable, well, they
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: were staggering. Vance made it crystal clear that this administration
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: not only believes that American taxpayers have been robbed for
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: years by massive fraud schemes buried deep inside of our
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: federal programs, and now he says, the days of looking
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the other way they're over. At the White House round
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: table with state attorney generals and federal officials, Vance announce
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: at the administration's Anti Fraud Task Force has already identified
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and recovered up to one hundred and sixty billion dollars
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: connected to fraudulent payments, fake reimbursements, phony contracts, and abuse
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer funded programs. The Vice President laying out a
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: list of exactly what's happened in just the first two months.
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: In just two months, we exposed billions of dollars in
• 20:00
  Speaker 9: benefits that had been stolen from the American people. We
• 20:04
  Speaker 9: referred over twenty two billion dollars in fraudulent small business
• 20:07
  Speaker 9: loans back to the Treasury for collection. We've deferred more
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: than one point three billion dollars in fraudulent medicaid reimbursements
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: that were coming from various states, particularly California. We put
• 20:18
  Speaker 9: a six month hold on enrollments for new hospice and
• 20:20
  Speaker 9: home health care providers because so many of the newer
• 20:23
  Speaker 9: hospice providers we're not actually providing hospice services, but we're
• 20:26
  Speaker 9: just focused on frauds. So we're going to cut that
• 20:29
  Speaker 9: out for a little bit and try to get to
• 20:31
  Speaker 9: a place where we can actually certify that the people
• 20:33
  Speaker 9: providing hospice services are actually providing those very necessary and
• 20:37
  Speaker 9: important services. We recover taxpayer funds from the one hundred
• 20:40
  Speaker 9: and thirty five billion dollars stolen after the floodgates were open.
• 20:44
  Speaker 9: In the immediate aftermath of COVID, we have found six
• 20:47
  Speaker 9: point three billion dollars in suspected fraudulent government contracts, which
• 20:51
  Speaker 9: were mostly awarded during the last administration, and that has stopped.
• 20:55
  Speaker 9: And finally, we've blocked sixty million dollars in student aid
• 20:58
  Speaker 9: fraud that should have gone to young people trying to
• 21:00
  Speaker 9: get an education, but instead we're going to fraudsters. And
• 21:04
  Speaker 9: I think the theme here of the Anti Fraud Task
• 21:06
  Speaker 9: Force up to this point has really been that we're
• 21:09
  Speaker 9: protecting two classes of victims.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: Here.
• 21:11
  Speaker 9: We're protecting the American taxpayers who shouldn't have their money
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: stolen by fraudsters, and of course we're protecting the people
• 21:16
  Speaker 9: who need these services. Fraud is not a victimless crime.
• 21:20
  Speaker 9: This is not somebody gets to make some money for
• 21:22
  Speaker 9: violating the law and otherwise it's not a big deal.
• 21:25
  Speaker 9: This is people who rely on critical services, students who
• 21:29
  Speaker 9: rely on student loan services, sick people who who rely
• 21:33
  Speaker 9: on hospice care, a number of small businesses who rely
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: on the availability of these loans so that they can
• 21:39
  Speaker 9: grow their business and hire people. All of these people,
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: all of our fellow Americans, have been taken advantage by fraudsters,
• 21:46
  Speaker 9: and the task Force is here to stop it.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Now, let's just dive into some of these numbers for
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: a moment. One hundred and sixty billion dollars. Now, according
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to Vans, this isn't just isolated fraud. He described it
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: as a systemic abuse that's rutched across the healthcare programs,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: COVID relief funds, student aid and government contracting.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: One of the biggest examples that he highlighted was one
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty five billion tied to alleged fraud involving
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: post that means after COVID relief programs. Vance argued that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the speed of pandemic spinning created the perfect environment for criminals,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: shell companies, and organized fraud rings to steal massive amounts
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer dollars. He also pointed the twenty two billion
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: in fraudulent small business loans and that program money that
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: was literally supposed to keep legitimate American businesses alive during
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the pandemic, but instead the money flowed to fake companies
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: and straight up scammers. And then came one of the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: most shocking examples involving healthcare. Van said, investigators uncovered approximately
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: one point three billion and fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements, with much
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: of that activity concentrated and you guessed at liberal California. Now,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration said, these fake providers, these fraudulent billing operations,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and sham healthcare businesses were siphoning off taxpayer dollars while
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: real Americans struggled with rising healthcare costs. The Vice President
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: also highlighted investigations in the hospice and home health care
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: fraud schemes. In recent weeks, the administration froze new Medicare
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: enrollments for some hospice and home health care agencies, while
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the investigators audited the providers suspected of operating the fraudulent
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: facilities altogether. Now, according to the Trump administration, some of
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: these operations allegedly build the government for patients who either
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: didn't qualify for services or in many cases, may never
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: have received legitimate care at all. Another major headline from
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the roundtable also involved suspected fraud in federal contracts, and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: this is where they say the new frontier is probably
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: going to be. The task force says it is approximately
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: six point three billion in questionable government contracts involving potentially
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: fraudulent businesses. Vance argued that Washington became too far comfortable
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: with handing out taxpayer money with little or no accountability,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and he said the administration is now using aggressive audits
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and new AI technology to identify suspicious spinning patterns and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: much faster than they ever have before. And that goes
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: back to even the fraud that we're witnessing on another level,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: student aid fraud. Money's supposed to mean that students can
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: go to college and better themselves, have a better life,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: get a better education, and become great earners. Well now
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: we know. The administration says investigators have already uncovered more
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: than sixty million connected to fraudulent student aid claims. Another example,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the Vice President said used to argue that, hey, taxpayer
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: funded programs, well they're basically just piggybanks for anyone that
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: wants to get a paycheck. It's also very interesting to
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: see how many attorney generals were in the room for
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the roundtable, making it very clear that the President and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the Vice President are going to be working state by
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: state to get rid of the way's fraud and abuse
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: and lock up those they catch stealing from the American taxpayer.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Thanks as always for joining us on the show Don't Forget.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: You can grab the Ben Ferguson podcasts wherever you get
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: your podcasts, and I'll see you back here on this
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: radio station next week and on the podcast all week long.