(The Lion) — A remarkably public meeting of Trump’s Cabinet Monday went a long way to underscore – and defend – Elon Musk’s DOGE effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse in government.

The cohesive meeting with reporters present comes two weeks after the New York Times alleged there was discord among Musk and several Cabinet members over the depth of the cuts.

The latest meeting started with Trump talking about a “record number” of businesses that are returning to the U.S. because of “the election on Nov. 5.”

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Trump said, “was just telling me the numbers we’re talking about are crazy, beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.”

The president then pivoted to government cuts, saying the administration was eliminating people who didn’t come to work, and in some cases “didn’t exist.” He also said the administration was finding “millions and millions” and sometimes “billions of dollars” of fraudulent contracts.

Trump then tossed the meeting over to his Cabinet secretaries, starting with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who highlighted a contract with a consulting firm for $830 million to do surveys for the federal government.

When asked to see the actual surveys, the contractor came back with surveys on 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, “with 10 questions that anyone’s child in junior high could have could put together,” he said.

The contract was awarded after Trump’s inauguration.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins highlighted some smaller wasteful contracts that were chopped, noting the department has “canceled a $300,000 contract educating on food justice for queer and transgender farmers in San Francisco.”

“A similar contract, we canceled in New York, again educating transgender and queer farmers on food justice and food equality,” said Rollins. “I’m not even sure what that means, but apparently the last administration wanted to put out taxpayer dollars towards that.”

The biggest contract cancellations were revealed by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin – cancellations that took direct aim at a news-making Democrat.

“The EPA has now canceled over $22 billion worth of contracts, $2 billion going to this NGO that Stacey Abrams was tied to. They received only $100 in 2023 and then the Biden administration gave them $2 billion,” said Zeldin.

Abrams, a twice-failed Democrat candidate for governor of Georgia who raised massive amounts of money by claiming she was a victim of voter fraud, is drawing a lot of federal attention now.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has called for the IRS to pull the nonprofit designation from one of Abrams’ fund-raising organizations, alleging it’s really a political arm of Abrams’.

Cabinet members heaped praise on Musk and his ad-hoc Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is helping the government find waste, fraud and abuse.

“The partnership with DOGE and Elon Musk has been incredible at EPA. Their team is very talented. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them,” said Zeldin.

Other Cabinet members also gave Musk high marks.

“We are, with Elon’s help, eliminating the redundancies. We are streamlining our department,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters.

Trump ended the public portion of the meeting by thanking Musk and noting the exorbitant price he’s paid personally and professionally in trying to rescue the American people from an overweening and extravagantly funded bureaucracy.

Indeed, the shout-outs supporting Musk come as sometimes violent protests have been staged by progressives who oppose Musk’s role in cutting government.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised anyone convicted of domestic terrorism in the attacks on Telsa would face stiff jail time of 5-20 years.

“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” said Bondi after charges were pressed against three allegedly responsible for violence against Tesla.

“Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”