Former first lady Jill Biden should have to answer for her role in the ‘cover up’ of her husband and former President Joe Biden’s mental decline, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

Multiple books published in 2025 have detailed the deterioration of Biden’s mental faculties while in the White House, including in the book ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again’ released May 20. 

‘The former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regard to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew, because I think anybody looking again at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see this was a clear cover up,’ Leavitt said. ‘And Joe, by, Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover up.’ 

‘There’s documentation, video evidence of her clearly shielding her husband away from the cameras that were just on ‘The View’ last week,’ Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘She was saying, ‘Everything is fine.’ She’s still lying to the American people. She still thinks the American public are so stupid that they’re going to believe her lies. And frankly, it’s insulting and she needs to answer for it.’ 

A spokesperson for Jill Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

‘Original Sin,’ authored by journalists Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, includes stories about how former President Joe Biden struggled to handle fairly routine aspects of a campaign. 

For example, the book says his team attempted to film a campaign video for ads on television in a high school gym, and have people ask questions akin to a town hall meeting. 

‘The campaign was trying to make it look like the president was out there taking off-the-cuff questions from voters in public,’ the book said. ‘But the event was closed to reporters, and the campaign had the full list of questions that people would ask.’

Even so, former President Joe Biden encountered so much ‘trouble’ answering questions that his team decided to cut the footage. Some blamed the poor lighting in the gym, but the book said that others said the real problem remained with the former president. 

Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s team has pushed back on the material in ‘Original Sin,’ which chronicles the 2024 election cycle and how his team allegedly plotted a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had declined. 

‘There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover-up or conspiracy,’ a Biden spokesperson previously said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill.’

A White House official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday that in addition to billionaire Elon Musk, multiple other staffers and special government employees from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are departing.

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.

Musk announced his departure from DOGE late Wednesday.

‘As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,’ Musk said on X. ‘The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.’

Along with Musk, advisor Steve Davis, advisor and spokesperson Katie Miller, and attorney James Burnham are leaving their posts within DOGE, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.

With Musk’s departure, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing Thursday that Trump and members of his Cabinet will now spearhead DOGE’s efforts.

‘The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,’ Leavitt said.

‘The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,’ she continued. ‘And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. 

‘So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.’

While DOGE was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the budget, its efforts led to roughly $175 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. 

The savings translate to about $1,087 in savings per taxpayer, the website notes.

A senior White House official told Fox News Digital previously that DOGE is now part of the ‘DNA’ of the federal government, and it will continue to operate as it had under Musk.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Murray and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asked the Justice Department on Thursday to investigate a Chinese-owned self-driving trucking company, one of the largest in the U.S., citing allegations that it had shared proprietary data and other sensitive technology with state-linked entities in Beijing. 

The letter, sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, asks the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into the autonomous truck company TuSimple Holdings, a Chinese-owned company and one of the largest self-driving truck companies in the U.S. 

In it, Hawley cites recent reporting from the Wall Street Journal that alleges that TuSimple ‘systematically shared proprietary data, source code, and autonomous driving technologies’ with Chinese state-linked entities— what he described as ‘blatant disregard’ of the 2022 national security agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS.

‘These reports also revealed communications from TuSimple personnel inside China requesting the shipment of sensitive Nvidia AI chips and detailed records showing ‘deep and longstanding ties’ with Chinese military-affiliated manufacturers,’ Hawley said. 

He noted that to date, TuSimple ‘has not faced serious consequences’ for sharing American intellectual property with China, despite having continued to share data with China after signing a national security agreement with the U.S. government in 2022, which was enforced by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

‘If the reports about TuSimple are accurate, they represent not just a violation of export law, but a breach of national trust and a direct threat to American technological leadership,’ Hawley said. 

‘The American people deserve to know how and why a supposedly U.S.-based company was allowed to serve as a conduit for the transfer of sensitive innovations to the Chinese Communist Party,’ he added.

The letter asks Bondi and the Justice Department to take certain steps to investigate the company’s actions, as alleged by the recent reports – including investigating whether TuSimple provided protected information to any Chinese-based entities, and what activities were covered by the company’s national security agreement with CFIUS, struck more than two years ago. 

Hawley also asked Bondi what actions, if any, DOJ has taken to date to ensure that Bot Auto—a new Texas-based self-driving vehicle company staffed by many former TuSimple employees, ‘is not engaging in similar behavior.’

According to the Wall Street Journal report, TuSimple’s actions helped shape new Commerce Department regulations, which blocked the sale of internet-linked cars and different components with links to China. According to the report, a CFIUS investigation determined TuSimple’s tech sharing did not violate the official national security agreement— but the company was fined for other infractions, and ultimately paid out a $6 million settlement. 

The letter comes as Hawley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has emerged as one of the Senate’s more vocal critics of the Chinese Communist Party, especially as it relates to the conduct of certain U.S. companies, and the sharing of certain intellectual property. 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced his departure from DOGE on social media Wednesday after five months of viral moments and cuts that sparked both praise and controversy nationwide. Fox News Digital compiled five of the top memorable moments from that span. 

Tesla photo shoot at the White House with President Trump

As Musk’s efforts to cut government waste resulted in outrage from Democrats and violent protests at Tesla dealerships across the country, along with a dip in Tesla’s stock price, President Donald Trump announced he was going to purchase a Tesla and met with Musk outside the White House to look at options.

‘I’m going to buy a brand-new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,’ Trump announced.

‘To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,’ Trump said on Truth Social. 

Trump and Musk were photographed examining different Tesla models and sitting inside them.

Musk got in on the passenger side and joked about ‘giving the Secret Service a heart attack’ as they talked about how to start a vehicle that can reach 60 miles per hour in a few seconds.

‘That’s beautiful, this is a different panel . . . everything’s computer!’ Trump remarked, in a comment that went viral on social media. ‘That’s beautiful! Wow!’

Trump told reporters that he would write a check for the car he chose, which retails for roughly $80,000, and leave it at the White House, so his staff could drive it. The president also said he hopes his purchase will boost Tesla, which was struggling with sagging sales and declining stock prices at the time.

Iron Mountain revelation

One of the most notable DOGE revelations as it scoured the government for waste, fraud, and abuse was Musk’s announcement in February that his agency was looking into a limestone mine in Pennsylvania where he said federal employee retirements are processed manually using a system that could take months. 

‘We’re like, well, what? Why is that? Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,’ Musk said. ‘It’s manually calculated and written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down to mine and like, what do you mean, a mine?’

DOGE wrote on X that an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month.

The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes, DOGE said.

The Washington Post described the facility as a ‘sinkhole of bureaucracy’ in a 2014 article. At the time, the report said the total spending on the retirement system was $55.8 million. 

‘And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government,’ Musk said. ‘And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can’t, nobody can retire. Doesn’t that sound crazy?’

Lil X steals the show at the White House

Musk’s 4-year-old son, Æ A-12, also known as ‘Lil X,’ was often seen accompanying his father for visits to the White House and Capitol Hill in recent months, often going viral on social media. 

In February, Lil X made headlines after attending an Oval Office meeting and mimicking his father while he spoke, at one point sitting on Musk’s shoulders and putting his fingers in the former DOGE chief’s ears, and holding onto the Resolute Desk. 

‘This is X, and he’s a great guy. High IQ,’ a chuckling Trump said, adding that the boy is a ‘high-IQ individual.’

In March, heartwarming photographs of Trump walking to the president’s helicopter, Marine One, with Elon Musk’s son went viral on social media, with internet users doting over the joyful moment. 

Explosive interviews with ‘Big Balls’ and the DOGE team

Musk sat down with ‘Special Report’ executive editor Bret Baier for a revealing behind-the-scenes interview with members of his team earlier in March and offered previously unseen glimpses into the work being done.

Musk, along with DOGE members Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghaddassi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause and Tyler Hassen, illustrated key efforts of the department to achieve Trump’s goal. Davis brought up federal credit cards, which he labeled a ‘mundane’ but ‘illustrative’ example of DOGE’s work.

‘There are in the federal government around 4.6 million credit cards for around 2.3 to 2.4 million employees. This doesn’t make sense. So one of the things all of the teams have worked on is we’ve worked for the agencies and said, ‘Do you need all of these credit cards? Are they being used? Can you tell us physically where they are?” Davis explained.

‘Clearly there should not be more credit cards than there are people,’ Musk responded.

The eight-man group also discussed DOGE’s work relating to the federal workforce, financial management, government infrastructure, computer systems, Social Security and more.

‘They may characterize it as shooting from the hip, but it is anything but that,’ Musk said, noting that the agency’s approach to cuts is to ‘measure twice, if not thrice, and cut once.’

Earlier this month, Musk and his team gave a second revealing interview to ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ outlining examples of waste they had discovered in government. 

As the team shared cases of wasteful spending from top departments to smaller agencies, Watters asked how the findings made Musk and the DOGE members feel.

‘Unfortunately, like the 100th time you’ve heard it, it’s hard not to get a little numb, and by the 200th time, you’re like, well, OK, it was just another day at the office,’ Musk replied.

One DOGE member, who joined Musk on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ revealed that he had dropped out of Harvard University to ‘serve my country,’ but faced backlash. 

‘It’s been unfortunate to see lost friendships. Most of campus hates me now, but I think, fundamentally, I hope people realize through conversations like this that reform is genuinely needed,’ he said.

In the interview, 19-year-old DOGE team member Edward Coristine revealed how he got the nickname ‘Big Balls,’ which had received significant chatter online. 

Coristine went on to say that the system that distributes government or taxpayer money ‘literally has no checks and no accountability to the actual American taxpayer.’

‘So, it’s a huge vector for fraud, waste, and abuse.’

Dismantling of USAID

Out of the many agencies that experienced cuts during Musk’s time at DOGE, USAID was perhaps the most discussed and most affected by DOGE’s findings. 

In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs would be canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by DOGE.

In total, 5,200 contracts were to be terminated, Rubio wrote on X, announcing the new reforms. He said the canceled contracts amounted to ‘tens of billions of dollars’ being spent ‘in ways that did not serve,’ or even harmed, the national interests of the U.S.

Rubio added that the remaining 18% of USAID programs—approximately 1,000—would now be managed by the State Department. The move to transfer that authority, he said, was made in consultation with Congress. 

Several examples of questionable spending were made public by DOGE, including where Biden’s USAID awarded $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshopto produce a show called ‘Ahlan Simsim Iraq’ in an effort to ‘promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups.’ 

More than $900,000 went to a ‘Gaza-based terror charity,’ called Bayader Association for Environment and Development, and $1.5 million went to a program slated to ‘advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.’

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel, Stephen Sorace and Associated Press contributed to this report.

With Elon Musk’s departure from the agency, there’s debate roiling over how effective the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE), has been in its mission.

In a report released just two days prior to Musk stepping down, financial watchdog Open The Books published a report finding it is likely impossible for the average American taxpayer to track the savings associated with the contracts and grants that were terminated by the DOGE team.

According to Open The Books’ analysis, which mined all the data published on DOGE’s official website, the average American taxpayer would likely only be able to confirm 42% of contracts and 27% of grants through an independent review of public federal spending databases.

‘This doesn’t mean these targets aren’t real, it simply means it’s very hard for taxpayers who want to see additional savings to find proof and evidence of savings,’ Open The Books points out in its analysis, shared in a report the group released Tuesday.

‘Because taxpayers don’t have access to real-time transparency and a real-time look at the Treasury Payment System, it’s still too difficult for even a highly motivated Joe Taxpayer to confirm the savings claims DOGE is making,’ the analysis, released ahead of Elon Musk stepping down from running the agency, continued. ‘It’s also far too easy for critics to sew [sic] doubt and confusion.’

DOGE says on its website that the group’s work up to this point has provided the American taxpayer with $175 billion in ‘estimated’ savings from the elimination of contracts, grants and leases, as well as through renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion and other mechanisms. 

However, DOGE’s estimated savings have been contested by watchdog groups and budget experts. Such critics have posited that the inclusion of already canceled contracts, double-counting or misrepresentation of contract values, and the unaccounted cost burden that could be imposed on the government when it has to re-hire folks down the line, or revamp its productivity, due to DOGE cuts, have led to inflated savings estimates. 

Nate Malkus, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, has accused DOGE of ‘overestimating contracts by a factor of two,’ according to CBS News.

But White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital that DOGE has produced ‘historic savings’ for the American people.

‘DOGE is working at record speed to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, producing historic savings for the American people,’ Fields said. ‘The DOGE Wall of Receipts provides the latest and most accurate information following a thorough assessment, which takes time. Updates to the DOGE savings page will continue to be made promptly, and departments and agencies will keep highlighting the massive savings DOGE is achieving.’

‘DOGE and Elon Musk have done the country an incredible service by identifying savings targets,’ added Open The Books CEO John Hart. ‘Having worked on the last major deficit commission with the late Senator Tom Coburn, we would have been elated to have had Musk in our corner. Now it’s up to Congress to not only turn DOGE’s recommendations into durable savings but to go beyond DOGE’s scope and truly tackle our long-term debt and deficit crisis.’

Open The Books highlighted two ‘common sense’ standards to help establish an ‘intellectually honest’ approach to understanding the true impact of government cuts, such as those being recommended by DOGE.

The first is the ‘durable standard,’ which asks whether a proposed cut can be easily reversed.

‘Describing something as ‘durable’ does not mean it is permanent or irreversible; it simply means it is hard to reverse,’ the Open The Books’ analysis stated. ‘The most durable budget cut in our constitutional system would be passed by Congress, signed into law by the president and be clearly constitutional, or unassailable in a court challenge. Budget cuts become less durable when they lack any of these three elements.’

The second is called a ‘duty standard,’ which illuminates the power behind certain cuts based on who is trying to impose them.

‘In our constitutional system, the founders gave the job of budget savings to three branches but primarily to Congress,’ Open The Books points out. ‘DOGE’s job is to identify, not enact, savings targets. It’s up to Congress to do the heavy lifting. And We the People have a responsibility to be informed and hold our elected officials accountable.’

Open The Books ultimately concluded that due to various limitations associated with publicly available data on government spending and revenue, in particular a lack of real-time access to the government’s Treasury Payment System, it is still too difficult for even the most motivated average American citizen to either confirm, or deny, the savings claimed by DOGE.

Elon Musk officially stepped down from his role as DOGE chief Thursday evening, as his position of ‘special government employee’ in the Trump administration was limited by law to a few months. Amid the transition, Musk criticized Republicans’ spending bill that was passed ahead of Memorial Day in the House, indicating he was ‘disappointed’ it would increase the federal deficit. 

‘I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,’ Musk told CBS News in an interview that will air in full on June 1.