Department of Government Efficiency employee Edward Coristine has resigned from his position, according to a White House official. (Screenshot/Fox News Channel)
A 19-year-old college student and software developer, Coristine was criticized by Democrats and liberal media pundits during DOGE’s first few weeks of investigating wasteful and fraudulent spending in the federal government. Many were upset about the young, irreverently named government employee being given access to government records to pursue DOGE’s work.
During his interview with Watters, Coristine said he had been looking through U.S. Treasury Department payment computers and finding a multitude of outgoing payments from the federal government that lacked details about who they were going to and why.
"So, one of our initiatives is to root out fraud and waste, and to do that we started looking at the payment computers. And, as mentioned earlier, there’s no accounting of what payments actually go to in the payment computer," Coristine said. "You look at a specific line item — $20 million. You’re like, ‘OK, what is this money going to?’ And for the majority of payment systems, it’s like, ‘Well, we don’t really know.’"
FLASHBACK: TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM ELON MUSK'S DOGE TENURE AS IT COMES TO AN END
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump talk about DOGE's efforts to investigate wasteful U.S. government spending from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Musk has been heading DOGE since President Donald Trump took office in January. The department was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and federal workforce.
While DOGE was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the budget, its efforts have led to roughly $180 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment cuts and other ways to eliminate costs, according to an update on DOGE’s website.
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The savings translate to about $1,118 in savings per taxpayer, the website notes.
Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/teen-nicknamed-big-balls-leaves-trumps-cost-cutting-team-after-exposing-wasteful-spending