Tech guru admired by Elon Musk estimates ‘over $100 billion’ in taxpayer money is being wasted or stolen

A data scientist with ties to DOGE chief Elon Musk declared Monday that she believes “over $100 billion” in taxpayer dollars are being wasted or stolen by federal employees at government agencies. 

The tech expert is using artificial intelligence to expose cases of government waste, fraud and abuse and goes by “DataRepublican” on X, where her posts are regularly shared by billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder.

“Whew,” the woman, who is deaf, said through an interpreter when asked by NewsNation’s Brian Entin about how much federal cash she believes is being wasted or stolen based on her efforts poring over public databases. 

“If I had to guess I would say it is over $100 billion,” she said. “But what is more important is what they are doing with that money.”

“The numbers don’t lie,” the data expert added. “And look, they don’t always say what I want to hear. But they do tell me the truth.”

“DataRepublican” did not disclose her true identity during the interview because of threats she has received over her closeness with Musk. 

She described her relationship with the head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency as a working one, but noted that she has never communicated directly with Musk. 

“I want to be clear. I don’t communicate directly with Elon. He found me and he supports my work,” she said. “But I have communicated with some people who are involved with DOGE. And I don’t want to say much more than that, but I have a working relationship.”

She said she’s not even sure how the billionaire found her online.

“Honestly, I don’t know, you’d have to ask him,” she said of how Musk stumbled upon her X account, which he has encouraged his more than 218 million followers to follow. 

“But I’m grateful,” she added, noting that it has “been a whirlwind” since she started engaging online with Musk.

The tech genius explained that her current work involves “analyzing connections and relationships between people in the government.”

“[I]f you research people long enough, you start to notice that they’re all working together, they’re all married, that they’re all in-laws,” she said of her latest findings. 

“DataRepublican” insisted that the evidence of corruption she has uncovered isn’t limited to members of just one political party. 

“I cannot tell you enough how much both [Republicans and Democrats] are involved,” she said. “It is everywhere.”

Musk’s DOGE initiative, which aims to cut at least $1 trillion in federal spending, claims it has already saved taxpayers about $55 billion by slashing government grants, finding lost money, downsizing federal agencies and laying off thousands of government workers.