Trump Exposes Shocking Truth: Children Scored $300M in COVID Relief Scam

When government investigators began digging into pandemic-era lending records, they probably weren't expecting to find kindergarteners running businesses. Yet here we are.

Last week's revelations from the Department of Government Efficiency paint a picture that would be almost comical if it weren't so alarming. Picture this: somewhere in America, an 11-year-old supposedly secured a business loan while their classmates were learning multiplication tables. Not just one loan, mind you – we're talking about thousands of them.

I've spent two decades covering government oversight, but these numbers still managed to raise my eyebrows. The DOGE investigation uncovered more than 5,600 Small Business Administration loans – totaling a staggering $312 million – issued to supposed business owners who hadn't yet hit their teens. Let that sink in.

But wait, there's more. On the other end of the age spectrum, we've got loans approved for people who would've been alive during the Civil War. One particularly creative application secured $36,000 for someone claiming to be 157 years old. I've interviewed my share of centenarians in my career, but this would've been quite the scoop.

The timing of these findings couldn't be more significant. Just last month, I sat in the press gallery as President Trump addressed Congress, highlighting the bizarre phenomenon of Social Security recipients listed as being well over 120 years old. The president's quip about knowing "some people who are rather elderly but not quite that elderly" drew chuckles, but the underlying issue is deadly serious.

Here's where it gets interesting: DOGE isn't just finding problems – they're actually doing something about them. They've already axed 162 nonessential contracts, saving taxpayers $90 million. In a delicious twist of irony, they even cancelled a $10.3 million Department of Agriculture contract that was supposed to identify unnecessary contracts. You can't make this stuff up.

Not everyone's thrilled with the cleanup effort, though. My colleagues at the Washington Post recently documented how new spending restrictions are causing headaches across government agencies. When you set a $1 limit on government purchase cards, you're bound to ruffle some feathers.

But here's the thing: sometimes you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Or in this case, maybe crack down on a few questionable loans to protect taxpayer dollars. As one administration official told me off the record, "Short-term pain for long-term gain."

The broader implications here deserve serious attention. These loans were meant to be lifelines during an unprecedented crisis, not lottery tickets for fraudsters with creative imaginations. The fact that basic age verification apparently wasn't part of the process suggests deeper systemic issues in how we handle emergency financial responses.

As investigations continue, I suspect we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. But perhaps that's exactly what we need – a wake-up call about how we balance urgent aid with proper oversight. Because next time there's a crisis (and there will be a next time), we might want to make sure we're not sending relief checks to preschoolers.