Musk: X Cyberattack Traced to Ukrainian IPs; GAO Found $500B in Fraud; OMB: Pass Clean CR to Keep DOGE Momentum

A March 10, 2025, compilation captured three significant developments. Elon Musk revealed that a massive cyberattack against X had been traced to “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.” He then cited a Biden-era GAO report that estimated federal government fraud at “half a trillion dollars,” saying “all we’re trying to do is get that number down.” New Secret Service Director Sean Curran was sworn in by DHS Secretary Noem with Trump at his side. And OMB Director Russ Vought urged Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution to “allow the momentum that is ongoing with DOGE” to continue, warning that “a government shutdown in this moment would impact that adversely.”

X Cyberattack: “IP Addresses Originating in the Ukraine Area”

Musk opened with the revelation that had generated immediate international attention.

“We’re not sure exactly what happened, but there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” Musk said.

Trump, standing nearby, reacted: “Oh, well. So that’s your suspicion.”

The attribution of a cyberattack against Musk’s social media platform to Ukrainian IP addresses was explosive given the ongoing diplomatic confrontation between the Trump administration and Zelensky’s government. While Musk qualified the statement with “we’re not sure exactly what happened,” the identification of Ukrainian-area IP addresses added a cyber dimension to the already tense relationship.

The timing was notable. The cyberattack occurred during a period when the administration was pressuring Ukraine on the minerals deal and peace negotiations. Whether the attack was conducted by Ukrainian government actors, independent hackers operating from Ukrainian territory, or actors using Ukrainian proxies to mask their true origin, the revelation intensified scrutiny of Ukraine’s conduct toward the administration that was simultaneously its primary benefactor and its most demanding critic.

Sean Curran Sworn In as Secret Service Director

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem administered the oath of office to Sean Curran as the new Director of the Secret Service, with President Trump standing at his side.

Curran — the agent who had been personally responsible for Trump’s protection during the Butler assassination attempt — had been a natural choice for the directorship. His selection reflected both the personal trust Trump placed in him and the administration’s commitment to reforming the Secret Service after the security failures that had allowed two assassination attempts in 2024.

The swearing-in was conducted with the full constitutional oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”

Trump’s presence at the ceremony underscored the personal significance of the appointment. Curran had literally saved the president’s life at Butler. Now he would lead the agency responsible for protecting not just Trump but the entire presidential succession.

GAO: “Half a Trillion Dollars” in Fraud

Musk then provided the most authoritative citation yet for the scale of federal fraud — sourcing it not from DOGE’s own findings but from the Government Accountability Office under the Biden administration.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of waste and fraud in the government,” Musk said. “If you look at the Inspector General reports and the Government Accountability Office, there have been many audits that have pointed out that there’s a tremendous amount of waste and fraud.”

He cited the specific report: “There was a report issued by GAO — the Government Accountability Office — last year. So during the Biden administration, which estimated the federal government fraud to be half a trillion dollars.”

Musk emphasized the provenance: “That’s not a Trump administration thing. It’s a Biden administration thing.”

He described DOGE’s objective: “What we’re trying to do is get that number down to a much smaller figure, save money for the American taxpayer, stop money being spent on things that very few taxpayers would agree make sense.”

Musk then listed examples with the kind of dry humor that had characterized his public remarks about government waste. “Transgender animal surgeries — why are American tax dollars being spent on this?” he asked.

He cited the Social Security anomalies: “Why are 20 million people who are definitely dead marked as alive in the Social Security database? Why were hundreds of millions of dollars of Small Business Administration loans given out to people aged 11 and under, according to Social Security? Like, these must be some very enterprising eight-year-olds.”

Trump added the punchline: “And some pretty strong 150-year-olds.”

Musk responded: “Yes, exactly. As the President said, we have an enormous number of people marked as alive who are 160. He didn’t know the country was that healthy.”

The $500 billion figure from GAO was the most significant data point Musk had cited because it came from the government’s own nonpartisan auditing agency during the Biden administration. DOGE’s critics could not dismiss the number as a Trump administration fabrication — it was Biden’s own GAO that had produced it. Musk was simply acting on findings that the previous administration had acknowledged but failed to address.

Vought: Pass the CR, Keep the Momentum

OMB Director Russ Vought made the legislative case for a clean continuing resolution that would avoid a government shutdown while preserving DOGE’s ability to continue its audit.

“I’m confident that it’s going to pass the House. It’s going to pass the Senate,” Vought said. “All that we’ve put forward is a freeze — a continuing resolution to allow the momentum that is ongoing with DOGE and all of the work, the audit that you essentially articulated in your opener, to go on.”

He described the unprecedented nature of the current moment: “We’ve never seen momentum like this. We’ve never seen what you’re seeing with the energy and the ingenuity of a new administration coming on board and finding every crevice of waste, fraud, and abuse — all of the things that are weaponized against the American people.”

Vought made the practical argument against a shutdown: “A government shutdown in this moment would impact that adversely. And I think we’re going to be able to see Congress vote that out in the next few days.”

The CR strategy was designed to maintain the status quo on spending levels while DOGE continued its review. A shutdown would have disrupted DOGE’s access to agency systems and diverted attention from the audit to the political theater of a funding lapse. By passing a clean CR, Congress would keep the government open at frozen spending levels — preventing any new Biden-era spending increases while giving DOGE time to identify the cuts that the reconciliation bill would eventually codify.

Key Takeaways

• Musk revealed that a massive cyberattack against X was traced to “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” adding a cyber dimension to the U.S.-Ukraine tensions.
• He cited a Biden-era GAO report estimating federal fraud at “half a trillion dollars” — a figure produced by the government’s own auditors, not by DOGE.
• Musk listed absurdities including 20 million dead people “marked as alive” in Social Security and SBA loans to people “aged 11 and under.”
• New Secret Service Director Sean Curran was sworn in by Noem with Trump at his side, the agent who saved Trump’s life at Butler now leading the agency.
• OMB Director Vought urged a clean CR to preserve DOGE momentum: “A government shutdown would impact that adversely.”