NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander confronted Trump White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on the White House driveway over claims of “theft” and fraud being made by President Donald Trump and others as a justification for DOGE cuts.

Alexander tried to corner Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, asking, “Should we expect indictments, are there indictments coming for all the fraud we found?”

Miller told him to make an appointment through Leavitt, but Alexander took a more direct approach. Leavitt came to the sticks on the driveway to the West Wing Friday morning, but before she could address reporters, Alexander began grilling her.

Things turned contentious when Alexander reprised his question to Miller, drawing attacks from Leavitt — and some claims that Alexander called out as untrue:

PETER ALEXANDER: About the fraud if I can —

We can all have our own opinion about what is wasteful spending. And Republicans have praised the president for cutting wasteful spending.

But fraud, of course, is a crime. So have you turned over evidence of fraud to the Justice Department? And when should we expect to see those indictments?

KAROLINE LEAVITT: It’s a clever question.

First of all, I think all Americans would agree that funding masceptomies (sic) in Mozambique is not something that the American people should be funding or DEI programs.

I think it’s fraudulent that the American government has been ripping off taxpayers in this way.

And we also do know there has been extensive fraud, particularly if you look at Social Security. In fact, according to an IG report from the Social Security Administration, there was $71 billion worth of fraud in one single fiscal year that we know about.

And so that is a lot of fraud, Peter, that this government, the government has admitted to. So this administration is committed to finding even more of that fraud, waste and abuse.

PETER ALEXANDER: I want to be clear that $71 billion was from 2015 to 2022. So it wasn’t in just one year. And it was —

KAROLINE LEAVITT: $71 billion.

PETER ALEXANDER: But it wasn’t in one year, just to be clear.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: In one report.

PETER ALEXANDER: And it was it was in one report over multiple years from 2015 to 2022.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: So are you defending $71 billion in fraud?

PETER ALEXANDER: I am not defending — (INDISTINCT)

Peter, that’s a lot of money. Far too much. And that’s why this administration. Why is the media so against cutting waste, fraud and abuse from the government? I don’t get it.

PETER ALEXANDER: I just want to ask a question —

KAROLINE LEAVITT: We won’t be deterred. We will not be deterred from people like you and the press who are clearly, adamantly opposed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse.

But we know that American taxpayers at home who have been struggling with an inflationary crisis don’t want their tax dollars going towards crazy DEI programs in countries overseas.

They also don’t like the fact that there has been $71 billion worth of fraud in Social Security and improper payments going out the door.

That’s a problem that needs to be fixed. And President Trump is going to fix that. That’s your fifth question. Alayna, do you have anything to ask —

PETER ALEXANDER: You said something that wasn’t true, which is you said that they have found before, that they believe there have been tens of millions of people who were receiving money who are dead on the Social Security list. The same report that you referred to said that.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: No. Peter.

PETER ALEXANDER: None of those individuals are receiving —

KAROLINE LEAVITT: Peter. Did you watch the full clip of the interview that I did? When I said that? And I said, there are a lot of unanswered questions, and we suspect there could be tens of millions of people saying that.

PETER ALEXANDER: And I’m saying the IG report says that almost none of them —

KAROLINE LEAVITT: So you just said what I said is not true. In fact, it was true. That’s a suspicion that this administration has, and we’re committed to finding out the truth.

PETER ALEXANDER: But it’s not based in fact. The report said almost none of them are receiving Social Security.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: Thank you everybody.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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