Trump Rants About New Theory on Magnets While Slamming Government Waste and Boeing

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Bente Birkeland
February 13, 2025
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8 minutes read

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/FILE

President Donald Trump voiced frustration over government waste, fraud, and a “new theory” on magnets during a heated White House briefing on Wednesday. When asked how he could ensure that Elon Musk’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency was cutting spending properly, Trump insisted that fraud was rampant in federal programs.

“There’s tremendous fraud,” the president said. “And it’s hard to believe that you can have that kind of fraud… What we’re going to do is, tomorrow I’m having a news conference. I’m going to read to you some of the names that hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars have been given to.”

Trump then lashed out at a reporter who questioned his claims, suggesting they lacked journalistic talent. “And if you tell me that we should be giving money to those things, those entities, I think you’ll probably have to leave as a reporter because you’re not very talented,” he said. “When you look at the kind of money, billions and billions of dollars being thrown away illegally.”

Without providing evidence, Trump shifted blame for some of the alleged fraud onto airplane manufacturer Boeing, criticizing their handling of military contracts. “You know, Boeing, we’re not happy with the service we’re getting in terms of those planes,” he stated. “Look at — take a look at the Gerald Ford, the aircraft carrier, the Ford. It was supposed to cost $3 billion. It ends up costing like $18 billion.”

President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage before he speaks at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards on Dec. 5 in Greenvale, N.Y. (Heather Khalifa/AP)

Trump then launched into a critique of the ship’s technology, particularly its use of magnet-based elevators. “And they have all magnetic elevators to lift up 25 planes at a time, 20 planes at a time,” he said. “And instead of using hydraulics, like on tractors that can handle anything from hurricanes to lightning to anything, they use magnets.”

The president dismissed the technology as experimental and ineffective. “It’s a new theory. Magnets are going to lift the planes up and it doesn’t work. And they had billions and billions of dollars of cost overruns,” he concluded. Trump’s remarks, which combined grievances over government spending with skepticism about military technology, reflect his broader push to overhaul federal operations under Musk’s direction.

However, critics argue that his administration’s approach to budget cuts lacks transparency and could undermine critical infrastructure. As Trump prepares to unveil more details on his cost-cutting plans in an upcoming press conference, questions remain about how much of the alleged fraud stems from inefficiencies versus political rhetoric.