Vice President JD Vance announced Friday that the Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force has identified approximately $230 billion in alleged fraud against the federal government and blocked roughly $56 billion in fraudulent payments. Vance disclosed the figures during the administration’s first televised Cabinet meeting at Camp David, where he briefed President Donald Trump and Cabinet members on the task force’s progress. The task force was established to coordinate anti-fraud efforts across multiple federal agencies as part of a government-wide strategy to identify waste and abuse in taxpayer-funded programs.
“Just since the beginning of the fraud task force that I started under the president’s leadership and direction, we have identified $230 billion dollars of fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American people, and we have halted already $56 billion dollars of that,” Vance said. Vance acknowledged that recovering money already distributed proves difficult but emphasized preventing fraudulent payments before issuance as the most effective protection. “It’s sometimes hard once the money has already gone out the door; it’s hard to get it back,” he said. “But stopping it from going out the door is how we save the American people $56 billion.”
New Anti-Fraud Actions Announced
The administration announced 17 additional anti-fraud actions targeting an estimated $300 million in fraudulent activity. “Just today, Mr. President, we will announce 17 new anti-fraud actions that will total about a third of a billion dollars, and that’s added to the $230 billion that we’ve already uncovered,” Vance said. Vance used a Medicaid neonatal care program as an example, alleging fraudulent companies billed for services never provided while reducing resources for families needing legitimate assistance. “So we’ve seen moms and babies unable to access the healthcare that they need because the fraudsters have gotten rich,” he said. “That is a disgrace.”
Vance argued that meaningful action only began after Trump directed his administration to prioritize fraud investigations. “And until the president ordered us to stop it, no one was doing anything about it,” Vance said. Trump praised Vance’s leadership, comparing him to Prohibition-era lawman Eliot Ness. The administration has not released detailed public accounting of the $230 billion figure, but officials indicated additional enforcement actions are expected as the task force continues reviewing federal programs. This story has been updated. CNN’s staff contributed to this report.
