Free Republic

With so much going on these days — on multiple fronts — it's difficult to keep up with it all. On Tuesday alone, there were multiple cabinet secretaries testifying before Congress, President Donald Trump made multiple appearances, commenting on everything from trade to FIFA, the Houthis cried "Uncle!", and India and Pakistan appear primed to bust out into an all-out war. All of which is to say: I didn't have an opportunity to watch Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's testimony before the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee oversight hearing live. But looking back over some of the key...

The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments. Over the past few days, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly getting benefits — a “HUGE problem,” Musk wrote. It is true that improper payments have been made, including some to dead people. But the numbers thrown out by Musk and the White House are overstated and misrepresent Social Security data. “If you take all of...

The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is tracing the long, complex trail of government spending. US taxpayers deserve to know where their money is spent. The US Treasury Department should be able to provide a clear account of government spending as it is responsible for processing trillions in government payments per year. It has been revealed that the US Treasury has not been doing its part. Americans provide the US Treasury Department with their hard-earned dollars every tax season, and throughout the year for that matter. The agency is tasked with managing the government’s finances, paying all government...

Billionaire Elon Musk’s deputies have gained access to a sensitive Treasury Department system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments after the administration ousted a top career official at the department, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe government deliberations. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved access to the Treasury’s payments system for a team led by Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive working in concert with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” the people said. David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades and had been...

DOGE: David Lebryk controlled the computerized payment system responsible for $6 trillion in Treasury payments before he refused to give Trump's DOGE team access to the system. His manager was a Nigerian immigrant appointed by Biden. He quit two weeks ago. ... Obama hired him ... Adeyemo was an Obama insider. He was Director of the National Economic Council under Obama AND he was a Sr Advisor at BlackRock - Very Convenient for them. We’re going to find out how MUCH the Treasury Department stole from the American taxpayers now. People are going to prison. ... Biden really did try...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, according to three people familiar with the change, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending. The new authority follows a standoff this week with a top Treasury official who had resisted allowing Mr. Musk’s lieutenants into the department’s payment system, which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government. The official, a career civil servant named David Lebryk, was put on leave and...

David Lebryk, the top-ranking career U.S. Treasury Department official, will leave his post where he has been a top official for years.Elon Musk and the DOGE team are currently examining the treasury payment systems.Lebryk clashed with Musk over access to a “sensitive system” used to pay over $6 trillion a year in Social Security and Medicare benefits.The results of the audit may not bode well for David Lebryk.According to Elon Musk, the payment approval officers were told to ALWAYS approve payments, even to fraudulent groups or terrorist organizations!“The DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury...

Is the truth about to finally come out? We have been lied to about so many different things over the past several decades, but one of the biggest just might be the giant slush fund that is the US Treasury balance sheet and payments system. Have things not exactly been “above board”? We’re about to find out, but what I can report with 100% certainty is that David Lebryk, the highest ranking career official at the Treasury just announced his resignation: BREAKING: David Lebryk, the highest ranking career official at the Treasury has just announced his resignation. pic.twitter.com/lmJSgkaHDp — Ian...