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Trump Signs the Executive Order Establishing the Fraud Task Force, Mar. 16, 2026

March 16, 2026 · The White House · 0:53:49

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 16, 2026 establishing a new task force to root out fraud in federally funded programs. Staff Secretary Will Scharf presented the order: as previewed in the State of the Union, in light of “widespread revelations of fraud in federally funded programs in states like Minnesota and California,” the order “will establish a new task force aimed at rooting out that fraud, returning potentially billions or tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars to the American taxpayer.” The task force is chaired by the Vice President, with FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson as vice chairman, launching “a whole of government approach,” as Scharf described it.

The President put the Minnesota figure at $19 billion — “but that’s only for one little aspect of the fraud” — and said California “they say is 10 times worse,” adding, as he stated it: “if we found half of the fraud that’s taking place in this country… we would have much more than a balanced budget.” He said the effort would go wherever the fraud is: “If it’s in a red state, we’re going there, too.” Vice President Vance and Chairman Ferguson were present for the signing, which the President opened by calling “a very big thing that we’re doing.”

Why it matters

This signing is the founding document of the Vance-chaired fraud task force that runs through the rest of this chronicle — the March 27 task force meeting, the Cincinnati and Kansas City press conferences, and the whistleblower incentive program all trace to this order. It is recorded on the Fraud, Waste & Corruption hub.

Scoreboard watch

The signing of the executive order establishing the anti-fraud task force, and the President’s $19 billion Minnesota figure and balanced-budget claim as stated by him, are recorded here as a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump and Vice President JD Vance Participate in Signing Time, Mar. 16, 2026,” The White House, March 16, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and the Staff Secretary at the signing.