show you something from down under. a dog fight and kangaroo and a dog. i would be panicking. he is like come back here. the kangaroo through jabs and tried to charge the dog. can't blame him. the dog, what are you doing? i can't do their voices. i don't have an australian accent. peter could do it. >> bill: nicely done, waiting. waiting. took a shot, missed. >> dana: the kangaroo trying to take a dip here. >> beautiful day on the beach. >> dana: it didn't say which beach it was. >> bill: we are getting ready for a big cabinet meeting and watch it together. >> dana: i will be on "the five" later.harris faulkner will take through the next hour. here she is. >> harris: breaking news. history unfolding before us as president donald trump is about to hold the first cabinet

meeting of his second term. this is special because he has a democrat in his cabinet, secretary robert f. kennedy, jr. and past democrat in his cabinet the director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard. perhaps an opening step in trump's healing a nation that as we know has been bitterly divided for years politically. i'm harris faulkner. you are in "the faulkner focus." the heads of the president's executive departments will not be the only ones in that critical meeting. white house senior advisor elon musk will be there, too. the president posted just a few hours ago all cabinet members are extremely happy with elon. media will see that the cabinet meeting this morning white house press secretary karoline leavitt. >> elon is working with the cabinet secretaries and their staff every single day to identify waste and fraud and abuse at these respective agencies and you have seen many of these cabinet secretaries,

all of them, take the advice and direction. all these cabinet secretaries are working alongside doge providing updates on their efforts and providing updates on what they are doing at their agencies in terms of policy and implementing the promises that the president made on the campaign trail. >> harris: some of the top issues up for discussion doge's goal to slash government waste, fraud and abuse. ukraine's minerals deal negotiations with the white house after trying to end the war with russia. the president's budget bill which passed last night after some high drama and, of course, the illegal immigration crackdown. all of it in that meeting expected today. republican senator tim scott of the great state of south carolina chairman of the senate senatorial and banking committees is with me now. a big moment for the reasons i pointed out. to have anybody from the

opposite party, it feels like a moment of potential healing. what is your take on it? >> well, harris, it reminds me of the team of rivals assembled by president abraham lincoln. president trump is bringing this country together. he had record turnout, record numbers in the african-american community, hispanic community. 62% of the native american community. what we see is his working class coalition no longer driven by identity politics but driven by the vision that the american dream should be alive and healthy for all americans and president trump has assembled a cabinet to get the job done for americans and that's good news. we finally have one team, america's team, leading the way for this nation. >> harris: you know, i want to put a fine point on doge right now, the department of government efficiency. that seems to be a big focus. you have the senior advisor to the president, elon musk, at this cabinet meeting today. your thoughts on doge and where we are right now and how it

moves forward. >> listen, doge because of president trump putting together doge, we've seen without question record illumination around government waste, fraud and abuse. we're bringing light to waste in the government. that means more taxpayers will have more of their resources back in their pockets. we should never take it out of their pockets. putting it back in their pockets is the number one job we should have. >> harris: let's talk about late yesterday and that vote on one big beautiful bill as the president has called it. house and senate members. so it passed. there was one person, one republican who said no to it. but they all got on board. house speaker mike johnson, john thune are headed to the white house today. they are talk about how to handle tax cuts the president is hoping to see in the big, beautiful bill. last night they took another step towards becoming a reality

but not without some drama as i was mentioning. the house narrowly passed the budget resolution and it contains many of the president's key campaign promises. 4 1/2 billion in tax cuts. so that's the extension of the 2017 tax cuts. he is really pressing on that and provisions for border security and higher debt ceiling. speaker johnson had to pull the resolution off the floor. we were covering it all before winning enough republican hold-out votes to go forward. senator tim scott, it hits the senate now. tell me the road ahead. >> well, the road is going to be smooth in that we'll get the job done for the american people. i think you have done a really good job of distilling the parts that must be passed this year. number one we get to victory for the american people by closing the southern border. providing the resources for the southern border. it will be done. number two, exporting -- increasing energy resources

necessary to bring prices down, that is the fastest way to deal with inflation. that will be done. taking care of our military so that we have the most lethal force on the planet. good news, president trump, team america we are all committed to getting it done. finally, the tax cuts must remain in the pockets of the american people. we don't need that money coming to washington. we need to keep it in the pockets of everyday americans who lost over $1 thousand of spending power because president biden decimated working class america. president trump will fix what president biden broke. >> harris: look, i had on house majority leader steve scalise talking about the tax cuts. he said it will be a tax increase if this doesn't pass.

let's see if they can make it permanent now. >> it is another -- i love the goal. the goal of permanence should absolutely be our focus. here is what we're talking about and why it is so important. in 2017, i helped write the individual side of that code. i looked at my mom. a single mother working long hours. average single mother in america saw a 70% cut in their federal tax burden. think about the child tax credit. we doubled that. what does that mean? more money for families raising kids. think about the corporate tax coming from 35 to 21%. we lowered every bracket in the tax code and for small businesses there was a 20% haircut on their profits meaning they had more money to invest in their employees. to invest in capital. to invest in equipment. this is why we saw the economy hum. at the exact same time, harris, we saw a 3% increase in 2018 and another 3% in 2019 of revenues

coming to the treasury. once again proofing the curve is real. if you lower the impediments you increase production. our tax cuts and jobs act created more jobs, 7 million jobs. had more money in the pockets of americans, nearly $6 thousand. and more money coming to the federal treasury. the trifecta brought to us by president trump. >> harris: you know, i caught how you put it before. we don't want more money going to the government. no. elon musk and doge team are trying to shave that down as it is. and talk of -- i wonder do you think it would go through the house and reach all of you in the senate, this idea of maybe a portion of the money that is saved, which is our money anyway would go back to the public. >> the faster we give money to the average american the better we are. i think we can pass it.

we did it during covid. we can do it again. good news is letting americans keep their own money, that would be a novel concept. we shouldn't take it in the first place. you don't have to give it back. everything we do now to uncover waste, fraud and abuse and give that money back to the american people is called hallelujah in south carolina. it is good news. >> harris: you put a fine point on that. the money that was given in 2016 really indem any filed the nation from pain as the pandemic was hitting. that was exacerbated when biden came in and inflation went up and so on and so forth and put up a wall for it. we want to keep that wall. walls work. >> economic resilience is when the american economy is doing well, which means that there is more money in the private sector than there is in the government. the more the government spends, the faster inflation goes up. the faster inflation goes up,

the faster interest rates go up. when that happens fewer americans can afford a home, fewer americans start businesses or borrow for new cars. all that goes away when we fix the economy with one basic philosophy. a good economy makes all things possible economically. and that means the private sector should be the focus of the resources in this nation and not the federal government. in south carolina, they call that common sense. >> harris: amen to that. i've been talking to senators. you mention energy and the process of getting us to a point. we're so far from being energy independent now. we got driven in the wrong direction and we are back on the freeway and drive hard towards that. that then starts to do what to the economy? >> well, the more energy we produce in america, number one, you get more jobs, two more energy production, number three lower prices at the pump. america is the country with the

greatest amount of energy resources when you put two or three of the energies together. that means that we cannot only be energy independent, we can also with the right amount of production, export our energy. that's great news for our allies who depend too often on our enemies. we make more money and we keep america and the world safer when we are producing more energy here at home. that's why when the president sent the signal that whether you are in alaska or louisiana, energy production can go up creating more jobs in those states and around the country. it also means the average american sees lower prices at the pump, more of their money to spend on other things because you and i both know energy is an absolute essential component for reducing prices and lowering inflation, meaning more americans have more money to spend on luxuries like going out to eat or going to a movie. these are things we lost during the biden years because they

devastated the economy so much that the average family had to make decisions on rationing the necessities of life. under president trump we have more money. >> harris: when you lower that price of gasoline the trucks, those vehicles bringing us our goods that we paid for, those prices are then affected in a very good way for the american consumer. we're watching the white house now, senator, and you have told us what's coming up next in the senate as it gets into your hands now, the big, beautiful bill. so glad you are with me. we'll take a short commercial break right now because we know that the media are assembled for this meeting already. it is set to get started. the president's first cabinet meeting of his second term. senator tim scott. so great to join us. i'll be right back.

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through this. it may feel that way to heal a very divided nation. i want to bring in steve hilton. fox news contributor. maybe i'm too optimistic there but we're making history on a lot of levels. a lot to talk about in that room. your thoughts. >> it is exactly as you say. so inspiring to a lot of people in the election campaign and contributed to such a decisive outcome which was all these people coming together. people use different terms. the pirate ship, rebel alliance. all of it was motivated by one thing. we have to do things. we have to act and change direction and need people not putting ideology first or partisan politics first but specific action that needs to be taken to improve the lives of americans, to protect our security, the border, our health in the case of bobby kennedy, all of it was motivated by very concrete action that's pragmatic. it is not ideological. that's the whole mark of president trump ever since he

entered the political arena. he threw out of ideological baggage of past republican political leaders. i think that's what enabled him to attract this broad range of people. it was inspiring and is inspiring. great to see them together and i think there is a lot of hope in so many areas. this is real change and what people voted for. >> harris: there is also hope on the right side of the aisle that trump can keep the coalition of republicans together. we saw a little bit of that with the drama over the big, beautiful bill last night. last minute they got it done with only one person going no against it in the g.o.p. house speaker mike johnson got that job done. i don't know if you heard senator tim scott. looks like they're unified in the senate. a point of unity the democrats don't have necessarily as they bicker and fight over who did what last november and can't move forward quite yet. there is a chance for trump and his team to go forward

unfettered for kwieft some time. >> this is a real change from the first trump administration and the reason people are energized. you have a united front in washington across the board. the first time around president trump was being battled by other republicans, by people in his administration, and took ages to get anything done. look at the speed with which they've put together this very complicated set of things. that's because there was a clear agenda and everyone was united behind it. they campaigned on it together many of the specifics in this bill. mike johnson i have to say is also very underrated. he is really good at delivering results. >> harris: house speaker. on the left side bottom of the screen the audience can see this. i don't know if you can. that is president trump and over his right shoulder and now they are shaking hands is the president of ukraine. zelenskyy. he is set to come to the white house on friday. he did an interview that we got some bullet points on earlier in

which he said he has a lot of questions. this has to do with that minerals deal that the president wants. that trump has been talking about. american wants people who have skin in the game. we can't just solve the world's problems. they have to be part of the process today and in the future. meanwhile he is talking about visiting and going to see vladimir putin in russia. a lot going on. first of all break down the minerals deal. what can you tell us? >> well, i think first of all it is really important to put this in the context of why it makes such a difference to have a businessman in the white house, a pragmatic problem solver. he understands if you have an economic stake in things, then that means you are more committed. it is exactly the same thinking instrumental in the abraham accords where you have that driven forward by economic cooperation between israel and other countries. this particular deal is so important because we know that

these minerals are incredibly crucial for the future of the economy in so many different areas. china is going around the world trying to get all these particular components and supply chains and dominant right now. by the way, there is a lot more we could be doing on these kinds of minerals here in america if it wasn't for a lot of environmental regulation that democrats put in place. that's another story. the deal is improving from zelenskyy's point of view there the first one that he rejected out of hand. it shows the power of donald trump's negotiating. when zelenskyy rejected that at the munich version the first version of this deal president trump went on the war path and now you see president zelenskyy coming back to the table. of course it's true there are more specific details. for example, about exactly the timeline for repaying aid, the u.s. might give. the exact components of the ownership stake and so on. this is a very, very good deal for americans because it means

we get the profit share 50/50. that's the idea. any profits there this new arrangement are shared between the countries. ukraine has help in building up that industry, good for ukraine but also good for us and our businesses here. it is the first draft of it. there is more details there. it shows you the power of having this kind of pragmatic problem solving approach understanding that in the end economic drives everything. >> harris: that's critical, too. there are all these questions do you let ukraine and nato and all that. the president is starting with the basics of economy and money right now. they will get to the textures of politics and who gets in and who goes where on down the road no doubt. they are important. steve, i want you to stay with me. we're standing by to take that cabinet meeting with president trump live. we'll get to that as it happens.

homeland security secretary kristi noem has announced she fired employees in her department who were leaking information about the immigration customs enforcement raids. she plans to find more bad actors and we know she means it. the trump administration continues to push illegal immigrants to self-deport. you don't have to go home but you have to go. you have to leave here. it requires them to be fingerprinted. she says it is part of enforcing the immigration and nationality act enacted in 1952. the law allows criminal penalties for illegal aliens who willfully fail to register with the federal government. file their fingerprints or inform the federal government of address changes. secretary noem. >> they can avoid the criminal charges and adestroyed fines and

we'll help them go home. what that provides for them is a safer environment. safer for our communities and saves us taxpayer dollars and allows them an opportunity to come back to this country and to be an american and to live the american dream. ly what our history is all about. >> harris: what happened to the border crisis? donald trump ended it for free. mind blowing numbers. 11,000 was the biden record. this past saturday only 200 people trying to break into our country and they were apprehended. that's a 98% drop. senior national correspondent william la jeunesse has more. william, it wasn't long ago we saw caravans of thousands of people spilling over in a one day or two-day period. unbelievable. it is down to 200. that's almost zero. >> yeah.

trump, biden immigration night and day. right now migrants are actually turning around before they even reach the u.s. migrant traffic at mexico's southern border down 90%. similar in panama. both countries are seeing reverse migration. >> if we have to pay for a flight, we pay for it. we don't care but many people are coming back, a lot. >> this woman made it from venezuela to mexico but failed to enter the u.s. illegally. now she is turning back. >> it's true. i wanted to arrive in the united states to have a better life but i couldn't. >> these migrants from south america are giving up hiring boats in panama headed home. new border patrol chief michael banks says reverse migration is happening throughout central america including honduras. >> in the first two weeks of february, they have witnessed over 500 migrants turning back

south. >> seeing images like this, the end of catch and release, ice arrests, checkpoints on the interstate. thousands deported by air, many migrants are leaving mexico by bus. >> this area south of san diego last year was overwhelmed by migrants. today it is empty. >> we've seen a 95 plus percent decrease in traffic coming through the darian gap. >> that means the pipeline is drying up at least for now. >> no more catch and release. you will be apprehended and returned to your country and spreading like wildfire all over social media. >> the bottom line, the risk/reward for migrants isn't there right now. why make the investment knowing if you make it through mexico, past the border patrol you'll be deported? right now what the administration is doing is deterring the migrant wave. >> harris: william la jeunesse, great reporting always. let's make the picture bigger now on the bottom of the screen.

we're watching the white house now for movement inside the white house cabinet members are there. the president has his handpicked cabinet and he will meet with them, along with senior advisor elon musk, within moments. we'll come out of the break if we need to. we'll take a quick commercial break. they are meeting for the first time in a second term. we're all over it. stay close. krista, it's time to fess up.. abooooouttttt? you're over 45 and still haven't screened for colon cancer!

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>> harris: president trump about to hold his cabinet meeting for the first time full meeting along with senior advisor elon musk inside the white house. it is supposed to be any moment now. we don't want to lose sight of this. we will squeeze it in the right corner of the screen when it take it big when it happens. important topics to come up. the war of ukraine.

the president said he wants to bring it to a halt possibly within weeks. a big story popping today after attorney general pam bondi issued a warning to three states refilesing to comply with president trump's executive order banning men in women's sports. a.g. bondi sent letters to officials in maine, california and minnesota yesterday threatening legal action. one of those states, maine, is already coming under increased scrutiny after a biological boy won a girls pole vault competition. libby called attention to the issue and then they cran sureed her last night. libby defended herself and girls on the house floor. >> maine girls walked into an arena excited to compete in the state championship for pole vault. that excitement was quickly

dashed as they learned that there was a biological male participating and that their hard work didn't matter. can you imagine trying to put your best foot forward but knowing that the outcome was already pre-determined by natural biological advantages. >> harris: her new op-ed said maine's girl athletes paying the price for extremism of state politicians and writes the maine principals association has placed the left woke agenda above the welfare of students and dignity of our female athletes. simple. boys should not be competing in girls sports. unsafe, unacceptable. girls deserve better. kerri urbahn sees a tough court battle ahead. >> there are unfavorable decisions for girls out there.

if and when the supreme court takes this up. i do think at some point they will. i don't see them siding with the girls on this issue. we'll have to wait and see. >> harris: we'll be watching for sure. let's get some reporting more on it. alexis mcadams in hoboken, new jersey. alexis. >> for some people watching now they wonder how is this still happening after president trump signed the executive order banning boys from competing in girls sports? that's exactly what is happening now in the state of new jersey. this state could be next. attorney general pam bondi sent the warning shot saying if you don't listen you will be sued by the federal government. we talked to some of the athletes in new jersey, harris, who are young girls who said they work so hard to make varsity sports and now they think it can be taken away from them. >> i don't want to be scared that there could be a boy in the locker room or bathroom with me. i don't want to lose an

opportunity or scholarship to a boy when it is meant to be for a woman in sports. >> so the new jersey association that regulates the state's high school sports says it won't change current policy that allows any transgender high school student to participate as the gender they identify with. the group says the policy has been in place for more than a decade and say there have been zero controversies. this policy defies federal law. goes against president trump's executive order setting the stage for another legal battle. attorney general pam bondi threatening legal action if states do not comply. she wrote a letter to leaders in maine, california and minnesota. one new jersey dad telling me he thinks the garden state is probably next on the list for not putting girls first. >> new jersey is one of the most radical states in the entire continental u.s. when you ignore something that is wrong that is happening, you are allowing it to happen. you are effectively endorsing

it. >> what happens if states do not comply? we're told by the trump administration they could not get federal funding. either play by the rules or get your funding cut. we'll see what happens. >> harris: sounds like new jersey is on the way. i live in that state. i can be part of the reporting and tell the you what happens. i'll text you. good to see you. the safety of america's air travel system is facing more critical examination following two separate near tragedies yesterday. planes headed into washington, d.c. and chicago had to abort their landings to avoid colliding with other planes on the runway. here is some chilling video showing southwest airlines flight narrowly preventing a crash while coming up. pull up for a landing at chicago midway international airport. and then you can see the private jet taxiing right into the plane's path on the runway. the national transportation safety board chair said this. >> we don't believe that this

was an air traffic control issue. it appears this was a failure of the flight crew from flex jet to listen and abide by the instructions of air traffic control. we still have to conduct our investigation. we have a lot of information we still have to collect. we want to know what was going on in the cockpit in that airplane. >> harris: we want to know how do you stop it from happening? mike tobin is in chicago. mike. >> one thing i can tell you passengers on board the southwest flight didn't really understand the close call that they had. it was just before 9:00 in the morning that flight was coming in from omaha, nebraska. just before the wheels met the tarmac the pilot on that southwest flight noticed that private plane flex jet was in the middle of the runway. according to southwest they executed a precautionary go around. passengers on the flight say the crew was calm and all they

really understood is that they had been delayed. >> to be quite honest, i was joking with my friends i have to wait ten or 15 minutes. i better get extra southwest points out of this. but yeah, the magnitude didn't hit me until i got home and started seeing the videos on x. it was a lot closer than i thought initially. >> that flex jet was given instructions to cross runway but stop before runway 31 center. here is some of the conversation with the jets and tower after that close call. >> about half an hour earlier at reagan national airport in d.c. an american flight executed a go around according to the faa to

maintain safe separation between an inbound flight and another departing from the same runway. they issued a statement a go around is not an abnormal flight maneuver and can occur every day in the national airspace system. a tool in the tool box for pilots and air traffic controllers. to help maintain safe and efficient flight operations. any assertion that the canceled approach was more than that is inaccurate. in fiscal year 2023, 54 million takeoffs and landings in the u.s. according to the transportation department. there are 1700 so-called flight incursions. of those 23 of them were considered serious in fiscal year 2024. there were seven serious flight incursions. >> harris: we're reporting more of them because we know about it. i know we didn't cover that many

last year. >> and when you think about it, there are very small number of them. especially they define with different degrees. a piece of equipment or aircraft was in the wrong place. they go all the way to serious ones like we saw yesterday and of those serious ones a very minuscule number. >> harris: we're all over it. transparency. great reporting. the cabinet meeting at any moment now. we know the entire cabinet along with senior advisor to the president elon musk. i have said that today. going to meet with the president now. there are a couple of things happening simultaneously. will the war between russia and ukraine come to an end? how soon after the meeting that is scheduled between zelenskyy coming here to meet the president on friday and the end of that war? also, no doubt they will continue to talk about what is

going on between israel and hamas, the blood thirsty hostage taking terrorists. we saw a few more hostages come home in recent days. what does it look like for wiping hamas off the face of the earth which is what prime minister netanyahu has said would be the only way to keep war from creeping back against his country from hamas. we watch all of it. secretary of state marco rubio has been in the middle of these talks to end these wars on behalf of the president. no doubt that comes up. the big beautiful bill. i had senator tim scott a few minutes ago. it is going to the senate next. he says it looks good there. republicans holding together. we staying on the picture here until the cabinet meeting against. stay close. it was so beyond the feeling of anxiety or of overwhelm. i just fell to my knees and i just said, god, you have to take this.

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probably $350 billion, europe is in for $100 billion and that's a big difference. so we're in for probably three times as much and yet it's very important to everybody but europe is very close. we have a big ocean separating us. it is very important for europe and they hopefully will step up and do maybe more than they're

doing and maybe a lot more. the previous administration put us in a very bad position and we've been able to make a deal to get our money back and a lot of money in the future and i think that's appropriate because we have taxpayers that are -- shouldn't be footing the bill. they shouldn't be footing the bill more than the europeans are paying. it has all been worked out. we're happy about it and i think that very importantly we'll be able to make a deal. most importantly by far we'll make a deal with russia and ukraine the stop killing people. they will stop killing young russian soldiers and young ukrainian soldiers and other people in addition in the towns and cities. and we will consider that a very important thing and a big accomplishment. it was going nowhere until this administration came in. they hadn't spoken to president putin in two years. so we'll keep you advised. before we begin the cabinet, i

would like to have scott and a couple of people say a few things. most importantly, where are you? this is the gentlemen who is going places. the head of hud and he will say you all know him and you will say grace and then we'll have our meeting, right? thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. president. let's pray. father, we thank you for this awesome privilege, father, to be in your presence. god, thank you that you have allowed us to see this day. the bible says our mercy are new every morning. we give you the glory and honor. thank you, god, for president trump, father, for appointing us. father god, thank you for anointing us to do this job. father, we pray you will give the president and vice president wisdom, father god as they lead. we pray for our colleagues here around the table and in this room. lord god, we pray that we would lead with a righteous clarity. father god, as we serve the

people of this country and every perspective agency, every job that we have, father, we would humble ourselves before you and lead in a manner you called us to lead and serve. the bible said blessed is the nation whose god is the lord. father, we today honor you and in your rightful place, father, thank you for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of america. lord god, today in our meeting we pray you would be glorified in our conversations in jesus' name, amen. >> amen. >> president trump: that was a very good job you did. you've done that before, haven't you? [laughter] scott turner is a terrific young guy heading up hud and he will make us all very proud, right? >> thank you, mr. president, sir. >> president trump: great job. in just over one month illegal border crossings have plummeted by numbers nobody has seen before and we've unleashed

american energy at levels that will soon be reported. but we think we'll get it going very quickly. we have incredible people on the emergency front. i think we have great people on every front. i will let you know if they are not good but i think they really are. we're fighting every day to get the prices down. inflation is stopping slowly. but part of the reason it's stopping is because of high interest rates and other problems that we inherited. we have to get the prices down. the prices of eggs and various other things. eggs are a disaster. the secretary of agriculture will be showing you a chart that is actually mind-boggling what has happened and how low they were with us and how high they are now. i think we can do something about it madam secretary. i think you will do a fantastic job in that position. one of the most important initiatives is doge. and we have cut billions and

billions and billions of dollars. we are looking to get it maybe to a trillion dollars if we can do that. we'll start getting to be at a point where we can think in terms of balancing budgets, believe it or not. something you haven't heard in many years, decades actually. it's a big -- whether it's this year or next year i think we'll be close to balancing budgets. doge is very important. elon is here to give you a summary of what is happening. some of the things they found. some of the horrible things they found. some of the theft and fraud and we call it waste and abuse but a lot of fraud. and probably some fraud that we won't be able to prove as fraud. when you hear the names and places where this money is going, it's a disgrace. but we've requested that a lot of people -- we want to make sure people are working. letters were sent out. everyone at this table is behind it. if they aren't i want them to

speak up. they're very much behind it. letters sent to people to find out if the people exist. do they work, who do they work for, where are they? where have they been working? have they been working for other companies or entities at all being paid by the job. two jobs instead of one. the letter asks some simple questions like what have you done lately? and if they can answer that. i can tell you everything i've done for the last long period of time. a lot more than a week. and in many cases we haven't gotten responses. usually that means that maybe that person doesn't exist or that person doesn't want to say they are working for another company while being paid by the united states government. so there is a lot of interesting things. very unique but we have a unique situation because we have a lot of people that were scamming our country. a lot of dishonest people and a lot of people that took advantage of a lot of different

situations and we won't let that happen. i'm going to ask if it's possible to have elon get up first and talk about doge because it seems to be of great interest to everyone. i will say that there is a large group of people in this country that have such admiration for what we're doing. i got elected with a tremendous vote winning every swing state, winning the popular vote, winning the counties by thousands of counties, i think it was 2,800 to 500. 2,800 counties to 500 counties, think of that. and so we have a mandate to do this. this is part of the reason i got elected. i got elected based on taxes and based on many things, the border. but also based on balancing budgets and getting our country back into shape. this is a big part of it. so elon, if you could get up and explain where you are, how you are doing and how much we're cutting. it is an honor to have you. been a tremendously successful

guy. he is really working so hard and he has businesses to run. and in many ways they say how do you do this? you know, he sacrificing a lot. and getting a lot of praise, i will tell you but also getting hit. we would expect that. that's the way it works. i would like to have elon musk please say a few words. >> thank you, mr. president. points of tech support here. this is actually as crazy as it sounds, that is almost a little description of the work that the doge team is doing is helping fix the government computer systems. many of the systems are extremely old. they don't communicate. there are a lot of mistakes in the system and software doesn't work. so we are actually tech support. it's ironic but true. the overall goal here with the

doge team is to help address the enormous deficit. we cannot sustain it as a country, $2 trillion dollars deficits. just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the defense department spending. we spend a lot on the defense department. over a trillion dollars on interest. if this continues the country will go -- become bankrupt. it is not an optional thing. it is an essential thing. that's the reason i'm here. taking a lot of flak. getting a lot of deference. but if we don't do this, america will go bankrupt. that's why it has to be done. i'm confident at this point, the -- that we can actually find a trillion dollars in savings. that would be roughly 15% of the

$7 trillion budget. and i've begun with the support of everyone in this room. i would like to thank everyone for your support. thank you very much. this can only be done with your support. so this is really -- doge is a support function for the president and for the agencies and departments to help achieve those savings and to effectively find 15% reduction in fraud and waste. we bring the receipts. is this real? go to doge.gov. line item by line item we specify each item. i should say we will make mistakes. we won't be perfect. but when we make a mistake we'll fix it quickly. so for example with usaid, one of the things we accidentally canceled briefly was ebola prevention. we want that. we restored that immediately and

no interruption. we need to move quickly if we are to achieve a trillion dollar deficit reduction in 2026. it requires saving 4 billion per day every day from now through the end of september. we can do it and will do it. thank you. >> president trump: would you have any questions of elon while we're on the subject of doge? if you have any questions, please ask. you can ask me or elon. go ahead, please. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. musk. just wanted to ask you the president trump put out a truth social today saying everybody in the cabinet was happy with you. i just wondered if you had heard otherwise and if you had heard anything about members of the cabinet not happy with the way things were going. if so what are you doing to address those, any dissatisfaction? >> president trump: let the

cabinet speak for a second. anybody unhappy with elon? if you are, we'll throw him out of here. anybody unhappy? [applause] >> president trump: they have a lot of respect for elon that he is doing this. some disagree a little bit but for the most part i think everyone is not only happy. they're thrilled. go ahead. >> president trump has put together the best cabinet ever. literally. so i do not give false praise. this is an incredible group of people. i don't think such a talented team has ever been assembled. it is literally the best cabinet the country has ever had and i think the country should be appreciative of people in this room. >> mr. president, thank you, mr. musk. are there about half of the government employees so far

appear to have responded to your requests for what they've been doing over the past week. is there a timeline in place for next moves? are people being fired? do you expect to see results from this? >> yes, well, i think that it was misinterpreted as a performance review but it was a pulse check review. do you have a pulse? do you have a pulse? so if you have a pulse you can reply to an email. i think it's not a high block. anyone can accomplish this. what we're trying to get to the bottom of. we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead or which is probably why they can't respond. and some people who are not real people. fictional individuals getting a

paychecks. are these people real, alive and can they write an email? which i think is a reasonable expectation. the public would have expectation of that. >> mr. musk, roughly a million employees. >> it is not a high bar. >> roughly a million employees have responded to the email. does it mean the remaining 1 million federal employees risk being terminated and is it your understanding and expectation when you post a directive on x that the cabinet secretaries will follow that order? several agencies have instructed employees that this is voluntary or not to respond. >> yeah. well, so i guess last week president encouraged me via truth social and by a phone call to be more aggressive. i was like okay. yes, sir, mr. president. we'll do that. the president is

commander-in-chief. i do what the president asks. so can we send out an email to everyone saying what did you get done last week? the president said yes. i did that. and we got a partial response. we will send another email. not to be unfair, we want to give people every opportunity to send an email. the email can be what i'm working on is too sensitive. literally that would be sufficient. this is just common sense. >> what is your target number for how many workers and employees you are looking to cut total? >> we wish to keep everyone who is doing a job that is essential and doing that job well. but if the job is not essential or not doing the job well they should not be on the public

payroll. >> president trump: wait a minute. i would like to add those million people that haven't responded though, elon, they are on the bubble. i wouldn't say that we're thrilled about it. they haven't responded. maybe they don't exist. maybe we are paying people that don't exist. this group just got here. those people are on the bubble, says they say. maybe they'll be gone. maybe they are not around. maybe they have other jobs, maybe they moved and are not where they are supposed to be. a lot of things could have happened. i wouldn't say that biden ran a very tight administration. they spent money like nobody has ever spent money before, wasted money. green new scam. all the different things they spent money on. you have seen that. we have seen that with we have seen that was some of the things people of sudden speeches. we read them and i can't believe them. $20 millio