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this American life. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. President Trump is

defending Elon Musk in his efforts to cut the federal workforce. In Pierce Franco-Ordoña's

reports Trump praised the billionaire's efforts in a pregame Super Bowl interview.

In a pre-taped interview, President Trump told Fox News as Brett Baer that Elon Musk is carrying out

promises he made on the campaign trail to root out waste and abuse. I don't know if it's kickbacks

or what's going on, but the people, look, I ran on this, and the people want me to find it.

And I've had a great help with Elon Musk, who's been terrific.

Bottom line, you say you trust him.

Trust Elon?

Oh, he's not gaining anything.

Musk has drawn increasing scrutiny and criticism for his moves to dismantle federal agencies, such as USAID.

Trump said he'll direct Musk and his team to next look at the Department of Education and

the Pentagon, promising they'll find billions of dollars in fraud and abuse.

Franco, Ordonez. NPR News, West Palm Beach.

Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been told the D.C. headquarters is closed and that they should work remotely for the week.

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