Vice President JD Vance did not let a loaded question slide. At the Oval Office launch of President Trump’s Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program on Tuesday, a reporter suggested the new rewards were unnecessary. Vance cut right through it.
“First of all, I think that’s a fundamentally dishonest question,” Vance said, “because over 99% of the fraud that we’re finding in the federal government isn’t covered by the False Claims Act. What the President is saying is he wants all fraud to be the sort of thing where if you find it, if you uncover it, you find evidence and allow us to undo the money, you should be able to benefit, not just a very narrow slice that’s covered by the False Claims Act.”
Vance, who leads the White House task force on fraud, said the program came straight from the President. “This actually came out of a conversation that I was having with the President, where we were talking about the scale of fraud,” he said. “And the President said, well, do a commission, do an incentive program, actually reward people when they help save the country.”
He also credited President Trump’s order for every Cabinet department to work together, since a single scheme “will touch seven different departments simultaneously.” Then he spoke directly to taxpayers: “Your tax dollars are being stolen from programs that help feed the needy, that help ensure that a young mom who can’t afford a doctor can get access to a doctor for her kids.”
“The President has said it must stop. It is stopping,” Vance said. “And if you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards now, thanks to what the President of the United States has done.”
