US government loses up to $521B annually to fraud as key GAO recommendations still not implemented

he federal government continues to lose an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion each year to fraud, while most agencies overseeing the nation’s largest federally funded programs have yet to implement one of the Government Accountability Office’s top recommendations for preventing those losses, according to a new GAO report.

The report, Managing Risks in Federally Funded, State-Administered Programsreviewed the 20 largest federally funded, state-administered programs, which accounted for approximately $1.1 trillion in federal obligations in fiscal year 2025.

The GAO found in the report released Thursday that most agencies have not completed documented fraud risk assessments. The assessments are instrumental in identifying where fraud is most likely to occur and how to prevent it.

“Federal and state agencies can better manage fraud risks and prevent fraud by applying GAO frameworks for managing fraud risks and improper payments, as well as other leading practices; leveraging available federal analytic resources, such as Do Not Pay, to verify recipient identity and eligibility before issuing federal funds; and implementing recommendations from GAO and other oversight entities that would address existing program vulnerabilities,” the report read.

The watchdog said there are currently 22 open recommendations that are focused on enhancing fraud prevention practices across the programs covered in the report.

The watchdog urged federal agencies to implement them to better safeguard taxpayer funds, particularly in state-administered programs.

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Meet the Woke Judge Who Sentenced Minnesota Mother Shiloh Hendrix for Speech ‘Crimes’ and Learn About Her Sordid Judicial History

The far-left judge at the center of the alarming verdict in the Shiloh Hendrix case is going viral, and much has come about her judicial past. And it is not pretty.

As The Gateway Pundit’s Cassandra MacDonald reported, a Minnesota jury on Thursday night delivered a split verdict in the disorderly conduct trial of Shiloh Hendrix.

The jury found the 37-year-old mother not guilty on the count related to her words directed at the eight-year-old Somali boy who was stealing from her, but guilty on the count stemming from her comments to the man who filmed and confronted her at a Rochester playground.

Last April, Hendrix was at the park with her toddler when the boy reached into her diaper bag and took an applesauce pouch. She confronted the child and allegedly used the N-word.

A Somali man named Sharmake Beyle Omar, who was not the child’s father, began recording the scene, became extremely confrontational with Hendrix as she was holding her toddler, and continued filming as he demanded and provoked her to repeat the slur.

Following the verdict, Judge Christa M. Daily sentenced Hendrix to a $1,000 fine, 200 hours of community service, supervised probation, and a stayed 90-day jail term.

While racism is horrible and no one should condone racial slurs, punishing someone for uncouth speech is precisely what our Founders fought against. Yet, Hendrix will pay a legal price unless the sentence is overturned.

This outrageous travesty of justice becomes even more glaring when one learns of Judge Daily’s past cases.

Back in January 2023, Daily sentenced a pervert named Thomas Lee Meyer to NO JAIL TIME even though he was convicted of four felony charges of possessing pornographic work.

The victims were reportedly 6 to 8 years old.

Back in August 2024, a 22-year-old Mississippi man named Trashun Haywood was convicted of first and second-degree assault and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Haywood had repeatedly stabbed a 26-year-old Rochester man with a pocket knife after the two men got into an argument at an apartment complex in northwest Rochester on Christmas Eve of 2021.

The victim suffered stab wounds to his neck, abdomen, and arm. The injuries were so severe that medical personnel at the St. Mary’s Hospital Emergency Department had to perform “life-saving measures.”

But Daily decided to waive 4-1/2 years of the sentence. She said she did so because Haywood eventually admitted to the stabbing and expressed remorse.

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Smithsonian Smackdown: Trump orders signs outside American History museum warning of woke exhibits

President Donald Trump escalated his battle against wokeness at the Smithsonian Institution on Friday, ordering his administration to place signs outside the National Museum of American History to warn visitors that some of its exhibits have been made “inaccurate.”

The signs would even redirect potential visitors to places where American history is more accurately presented, according to the order, though the order did not give examples of what those locations and resources would be.

“Because the museum has failed to appropriately honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during this 250th anniversary year of the founding of our country,” the order reads, government agencies “shall install temporary exhibits or signage on N.P.S.-maintained sidewalks, walkways, and land used by the public that corrects inaccurate information presented in the museum.”

The order comes after the White House Domestic Policy Council released a 162-page report on the museum, accusing its director of using the museum as a “political instrument” to accomplish her own ideological goals at the expense of the museum’s original mission.

The museum was first approved by Congress in 1955 to tell the national story of the United States, to “place before” visitors “a stimulating permanent exposition that commemorates our heritage of freedom and highlights the basic elements of our way of life.”

The museum’s director, Anthea Hartig, defended the museum’s changes to American history, stating in a congressional hearing this week that the museum was representing history in all of its complexity, according to the New York Times.

“When historians talk about reframing a traditional narrative, we don’t mean erasing it,” she said in her testimony. “We mean adding the evidence, the voices, the objects that earlier tellings left out so that more Americans can see themselves reflected in the national story.”

House Republicans, however, accused her of hijacking history with woke ideology to suggest even Mickey Mouse was racist.

The order also follows Trump’s March 27, 2025, executive order aimed at purging “revisionist” and ideological materials from U.S. history references and exhibits at federally funded museums and sites. 

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Far-Left Activist First Circuit Judges Block Trump’s Historic Election Integrity Executive Order in 23 Blue States — Protecting Mail-In Ballot Chaos Ahead of 2026 Midterms

A Biden-appointed majority on the First Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Donald Trump a major setback Saturday, refusing to lift an injunction blocking key election-integrity provisions of his executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

The three-judge panel denied emergency stay requests filed by the Trump administration and 12 Republican-led states, leaving in place a lower-court order that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from distributing federal citizenship lists and blocks the U.S. Postal Service from applying new mail-ballot requirements in the plaintiff states for elections held on or before November 3, 2026.

Judges Gustavo Gelpí and Julie Rikelman, both appointed to the First Circuit by Joe Biden, formed the majority.

Trump-appointed Judge Joshua Dunlap concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that the states lacked standing to block DHS from merely providing citizenship information.

The ruling is not a final decision on the administration’s appeal. Instead, the 20-page court order denies the administration’s request to suspend the injunction while the appeal proceeds.

The administration could now seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump issued Executive Order 14399, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” on March 31 to enforce existing federal law that reserves federal elections exclusively for U.S. citizens and to bring basic accountability to the chaotic, fraud-prone mail-in ballot process.

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Humanoid War Robot Gets Advanced AMD-Powered AI Brain

At the start of February, we began tracking startup Foundation Robotics after publicly available news reports and X posts suggested it could become one of the first US companies to deploy humanoid robots on the modern battlefield.

TIME later reported that the company’s robots had been sent to Ukraine for testing and evaluation, raising the prospect that these war bots could soon reach the front lines in Eastern Europe.

Our February 2 report, “Watch: Russian Soldiers Surrender To Gun-Wielding Robot; Humanoid Warfare Nears,” and our February 3 report, “AI’s Next Frontier Is Physical As Humanoid Robots Begin March On Assembly Lines And Beyond,” both preceded TIME’s coverage of Foundation by a full month and showed how these robots were being positioned for testing in Ukraine.

In another signal that Foundation is preparing its war bots for battlefield deployment, Reuters reported that the startup partnered with Advanced Micro Devices to supply high-end AI processors for its second-generation Phantom MK-2 robot.

Foundation plans to open a factory in October capable of producing 5,000 robots per year, followed by a second facility with capacity for 50,000 units. Industrial robots will be leased for about $100,000 annually, while defense models designed for logistics and reconnaissance will be sold for $300,000 per unit.

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BACKFIRE: X Users Bury Marxist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani with This Brutal Reminder After He Mocks Rich New Yorkers About Paying Their “Fair Share”

Communist New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani probably did not anticipate being humiliated online after dunking on rich New Yorkers about paying their “fair share” in taxes earlier this week.

As Fox News reported, Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a joint legislative proposal in April that went after luxury second homes worth $5 million or more. This is known as a pied-à-terre tax.

On Thursday, Mamdani took to X to brag that his office had sent notification letters reminding these homeowners that the tax would be implemented soon and to “check your mailbox.”

Mamdani added that only when the rich pay their “fair share” can the Big Apple afford the “best parks, libraries, and schools in the world.”

“If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5M, check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs — because you’ve got mail,” Mamdani wrote.

“Today, we sent notification letters to property owners, letting them know that our new pied-à-terre tax is coming soon,” he continued. “The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share.”

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Superstar filmmaker spurns prestigious writer’s award for retreat at super-secret Bohemian Grove

Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns reportedly sparked highbrow drama this week after skipping out of an in-person appearance to accept an award at a prestigious writer’s conference.

Where did he go instead? An elite mens-only camp in Sonoma County.

The 2026 Sun Valley Conference — held in Idaho — had announced that the legendary filmmaker would be honored with the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference “Writer in the World” Prize.

It comes not only with accolades but a $20,000 prize. Past winners of the prestigious award include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Abraham Verghese.

“For almost half a century, he has told us the story of America through some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Vietnam War, Country Music, and The American Buffalo,” the announcement read about his honor.

The release said Burns would “talk about his passion for the documentary form and, in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning military historian Rick Atkinson, tell us about his latest project on the Revolution,” our 250th Anniversary and more. 

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Senator Eric Schmitt Releases Damning Memo Exposing Joe Biden’s Devious Last-Minute Scheme to Leave Trump With an Even More Massive Immigration Crisis

We all know Joe Biden and his regime created the worst immigration crisis in American history in an effort to remake the population. But now, newly released information has revealed that they planned to go much further in his final days before being stopped.

As Fox News reported, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) obtained a bombshell memo on Thursday from the Archivist of the United States as part of a special access request he made as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution.

The memo, issued in January 2025, according to Schmitt, reveals that the Biden regime planned to expand Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more than 3 million aliens. It specifically noted that about 1.5 million Guatemalans, 600,000 Ecuadorians, 464,000 Nicaraguans, and 455,000 Venezuelans were all still eligible for TPS.

The memo also included populations from Ukraine, Sudan, and Afghanistan who could receive amnesty.

More alarmingly, the memo points out that previous court challenges had blocked many of President Trump’s attempts to terminate the protections and focuses on granting TPS relief for a particular country: Haiti.

We all know the damage many Haitians have wreaked in certain American communities, including Springfield, Ohio.

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Getting Away with Murder: Under Trump, the Buck Stops Nowhere

Having burned through billions of dollars and depleted critical munitions stockpiles, the Pentagon is running out of money.

Our money.

According to the Washington Postthe Pentagon is facing an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the Iran war, with some critical funding accounts expected to run dry within weeks. Training, maintenance and other military priorities are reportedly being squeezed as the government struggles to sustain Trump’s escalating conflict.

Once again, the government is looking to the American people for a taxpayer-funded bailout—this time to the tune of $67 billion.

Nor is the $67 billion emergency infusion the end of it.

Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget calls for an unprecedented $1.5 trillion in national-defense spending—a staggering increase that would pour still more money into a military apparatus that cannot account honestly for the costs of its current war, maintain its existing priorities, or keep from returning to taxpayers for another bailout.

The problem is not simply how much the war machine consumes. It is how little accountability accompanies that spending.

The government can launch a war, exhaust military resources, conceal its full costs, and return to Congress for billions more without anyone responsible being required to admit error, change course, or answer for the lives lost.

That is becoming a familiar pattern under Donald Trump.

He makes the decisions—others absorb the consequences.

He launches the war—the troops make the sacrifices, and taxpayers inherit the bill.

The Iran war is not merely another example of government waste, although the cost is already staggering. The war has already cost an estimated $80 to $100 billion, not counting its long-term economic impact, future veteran expenses, or the cost of repairing damaged military bases. Analysts estimate that the broader toll on American households could eventually reach as much as $1,000 per household.

Yet the true cost cannot be measured in dollars alone.

American service members are dying in a war Trump started without meaningful congressional authorization, without a credible plan for ending it, and without an honest accounting of what it will cost.

The Pentagon is draining resources from training, maintenance and weapons programs to keep the conflict going. Congress is being asked to supply billions more. And the American people—already struggling under the weight of debt, inflation and economic uncertainty—are expected to pay without question.

This is government without accountability.

When Trump’s decisions cost American lives, deplete military stockpiles and burn through billions of taxpayer dollars, the bill never finds its way to him. It finds its way to us, while Trump remains conspicuously insulated from the human and financial consequences of his own decisions.

That insulation from consequence is matched by a swaggering display of bluster and bravado that passes for leadership within the Trump administration.

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Hawaii’s Democrat Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke Indicted by Grand Jury on Criminal Conspiracy Connected to Alleged Payment Involving COVID 19 Testing Contract

A grand jury has indicted Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke (D) on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and falsifying candidate committee reports.

The allegations stem from an interaction with local businessman and lobbyist Tobi Solidum that took place in 2022.

The indictment alleges Solidum offered Luke a $35,000 bribe in connection to a company he recommended to the state for a COVID-19 testing contract he was connected to.

Also included in the indictment were Solidum, former state representative Ryan Yamane (D), Ford Fuchigami, an official with Hawaii’s Transportation Department and Democrat political advisor, and Leo Asunción, a former official for Hawaii’s public utilities commission.

Fox News reports:

In January 2022, with his client’s contracts set to expire soon, Solidum met with Luke at a steakhouse and allegedly gave her two $5,000 checks made out to her campaign committee Friends of Sylvia Luke, according to prosecutors.

“By next week, we’ll have 35, so it will be halfway to our 70,” Solidum allegedly told Luke, promising to give her $70,000, according to the indictment.

“Oh wow,” Luke allegedly replied, adding, “That’s terrific,” according to the documents.
Luke admitted to accepting the two $5,000 checks, but denied taking more than that and also denied any money influencing her lawmaking.

“I never granted special favors to a contributor,” she said in a social media post, adding that she “prized integrity and honesty above all throughout her career.”

The following charges were handed down:

  • Sylvia Luke was indicted for criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and falsifying candidate committee reports, and bail was set at $80,000.
  • Tobi Solidum was indicted for four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and three counts of bribery, with no bail set.
  • Ford Fuchigami was indicted for conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, use of false statements and obstruction of justice, and bail was set at $80,000.
  • Ryan Yamane was indicted for conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery with bail set at $150,000.
  •  Leo Asunción was indicted for falsifying candidate committee reports, use of false statements, and obstruction of justice with bail set at $80,000.

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