Fact check: Eight ways Elon Musk has misled Americans about government spending
Source: CNN
Fact check: Eight ways Elon Musk has misled Americans about government spending
By Daniel Dale, CNN
10 minute read
Published 12:04 PM EST, Sun February 23, 2025
Washington (CNN) — Elon Musk has repeatedly misled the public about federal spending while playing a leading role in President Donald Trump’s effort to cut that spending.
When Musk was asked earlier this month about one of the inaccurate statements he had promoted, he conceded that “some of the things that I say will be incorrect, and should be corrected.” But “some” might be an understatement. The billionaire businessman has made or amplified numerous false or misleading assertions in the past month alone, largely on the X social media platform he owns.
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Promoting a phony video about USAID and celebrities
As the Trump administration worked to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Musk shared an X user’s post that claimed “USAID spent your tax dollars to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky’s popularity among Americans.” The post included a video, made to look as though it was from entertainment outlet E! News, that listed large sums various celebrities were supposedly paid for visits to Ukraine.
The video was a fabrication.
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Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/23/politics/government-spending-elon-musk-doge/index.html