At last count, the United States’ national debt is more than $36 trillion, more than a fourth of which was racked up during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. The president has vowed to lower the debt — though he’s never said how or when he intends to do so.
It was against this backdrop that Trump broke new ground over the weekend, telling reporters that the nation’s $36 trillion debt might actually be inflated by possibly fraudulent debt payments. Reuters reported:
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said administration officials who have been combing through payment records in an effort to identify wasteful spending have turned their attention to the debt payments that play a central role in the global financial system.
“We’re even looking at Treasuries,” the Republican said. “There could be a problem — you’ve been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting…
