Trump asks Vance to focus on ‘corruption and crime’ in Dem-run cities, states

Donald Trump said he had asked Vice President JD Vance to give his “complete and total attention” to alleged corruption and crime in Democratic-led cities and states. Trump named Minnesota, California and Illinois, claimed billions of dollars were being stolen each month, and argued that tackling the alleged activity could help balance the federal budget.

Vance already leads a White House task force set up to combat fraud, waste and abuse in federally funded benefit programmes. The article reports that the task force had identified $260.7 billion in suspected fraud since Trump took office and estimated it had prevented $72 billion in potentially fraudulent annual payments; these figures have not been independently verified. Trump gave no specific examples to support his monthly theft claim, and it was unclear whether his directive would change Vance’s existing remit.