A report from the Government Accountability Office released Thursday details how Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wildly exaggerated the savings it was able to deliver for the US federal government.

The report, requested by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), finds that DOGE used a number of tricks to inflate the value of its purported savings, including taking credit for ending leases that were already in the process of being terminated and falsely claiming to have canceled contracts that were left intact.

The report also finds that DOGE “did not provide sufficient information to verify the method used to calculate 96%” of savings purportedly achieved through grant cancellations.

And in cases where DOGE actually was responsible for terminating a contract or cancelling a lease, the report notes that it “did not consistently use its stated methodology for calculating savings or disclose limitations in a sufficient manner.”

Even in instances where the department followed its stated methodology, the report adds, “it did not account for many complexities and nuances of federal contracting,” such as obligations or settlement costs that may have come from ending a contract.

In touting the GAO report, Peters said it exposed DOGE as a “slapdash and deceptive effort” at streamlining government spending that only succeeded in “putting Americans’ sensitive data at risk and hollowing out critical agencies.”

Blumenthal accused the Trump administration of using DOGE as cover to “recklessly slash government programs, ransacking critical services and resources and proudly displaying supposed ‘savings.’”

Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law at the George Washington University Law School, highlighted a number of DOGE flubs in a social media post breaking down the GAO report, including a “favorite example” of DOGE claiming $28 million in savings related to an Air Force contract that in reality only saved around $600,000.

Eric Boehm, writer for libertarian magazine Reason, said that the GAO report revealed that the savings Musk and his minions claimed from their work was “mostly just made up.”

In his assessment, Blumenthal said the report only “underscores the need for increased transparency and accountability from the Trump administration so the American public can better understand DOGE’s activities as the organization guts vital government programs.”

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