Billionaire Elon Musk outlined a list of ‘super obvious’ changes that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to make at the U.S. Treasury Department this weekend.

Musk says officials at the treasury are working to make the government’s books more simple to audit, as well as more accountability for where funds are going. The changes also require treasury employees to more frequently update the congressional ‘do not pay’ list, which highlights fraudsters and illegal fronts.

‘Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before. I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management,’ Musk said.

‘Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain[t] minimization. People [who] receive money don’t complain, but people who don’t receive money (especially fraudsters) complain very loudly, so the fraud was allowed to continue,’ he added.

‘The above super obvious and necessary changes are being implemented by existing, long-time career government employees, not anyone from DOGE,’ Musk added.

‘It is ridiculous that these changes didn’t exist already! Yesterday, I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number,’ he continued. ‘If accurate, this is extremely suspicious. When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately.’

Musk’s tirade toward the treasury department comes just after a federal judge blocked DOGE’s ability to access treasury department systems. The Tesla CEO condemned the ruling as ‘insane’ this weekend.

The Friday lawsuit, which was filed by 19 Democratic attorneys general, claimed Musk’s team violated the law by being given ‘full access’ to the Treasury’s payment systems. The systems include information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and more.

The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who wrote that President Donald Trump ‘does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed support for Musk and DOGE in the past, recently saying that the U.S. ‘doesn’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.’

‘At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched,’ Bessent said in a ‘Kudlow’ interview on Wednesday. ‘We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is?’

The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American kidnapped from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and murdered by Hamas terrorists after surviving 11 months in captivity, made a video plea to President Donald Trump after the latest hostage release. 

In a video message shared on Instagram, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin reacted to the release of civilians Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56. They were among the 250 people who were taken during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages were forced to speak during a Hamas handover ceremony, igniting outrage, as Israel in turn released nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday. 

‘We received the wonderful news that Eli, Or and Ohad we released today,’ Rachel Goldberg-Polin said in a video shared to the ‘Bring.Hersh.Home’ account, which has garnered more than 173,000 followers. ‘We also felt this real connection to Or and his family because Or and Hersh were both kidnapped together from the same bomb shelter on the same pickup truck on Oct. 7. And in fact, Or’s brother, Mikha’el, contacted us right after Shabbat today to tell us that one of Or’s first questions he asked his brother this morning was ‘how is Hersh doing?’ Because he had assumed that Hersh had been released long ago, and his brother had to explain to him that Hersh had been murdered five months ago.’ 

Jon Polin then addressed Trump, as well as U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, imploring them to secure the release of the remaining 76 hostages this week. 

‘Seeing the condition of these three hostages, hearing that Or had no idea what happened to Hersh, that Eli was unaware of the fate of his wife and his daughters, is just a gut punch to all of us that we need to do more,’ Jon Polin said. ‘And I’m turning directly to President Trump and to Mr. Witkoff, you have shown that you are the only ones who are able to get this situation moving, moving forward, and my plea to you, our plea to you right now is – now that you’ve done the hard part in getting movement, getting a deal started, let’s not think about Phase 1 and Phase 2 and Phase 3 in many months. Let’s think bigger and faster. All 76 hostages out this week. End of war. Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now. Thank you.’ 

‘Godspeed,’ Rachel Goldberg-Polin added. 

Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists last August shortly before Israeli troops reached the tunnel where they were being held in southern Gaza. Israeli troops recovered the six bodies from the tunnel, and Israeli forensic experts said they had been shot at close range after surviving nearly a year in captivity. 

Goldberg-Polin, a native of Berkeley, California, was attending a music festival when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. He lost part of his left arm to a grenade blast during the attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him speaking under duress with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel.

In their first hours as free men, the three Israeli hostages released on Saturday were beginning to confront the tragic realities to which they returned

Sharabi returned to Israel after 16 months of captivity. He was told only after his return that his wife and two daughters had been killed in the Oct. 7 attack, according to reports in Israeli media.

Levy ‘was not sure’ what happened to his wife on that day, his mother, Geula, told Israeli media on Saturday, adding that he was not exposed to media reports while in Gaza. Levy was taken from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival in southern Israel and his wife, Einav, was killed in the attack. His mother said he also asked about Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the same bomb shelter. Levy was reunited Saturday with his 3-year-old son.

A third released hostage, Ben Ami, sat huddled with his wife and three daughters in a hospital corridor. He told them: ‘I have a lot of things to catch up on.’ Ben Ami is a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest hit communities on Oct. 7. ‘I need to get answers to a lot of things, and I know some of them will be difficult answers,’ he said in footage released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office. ‘I need to know what happened on that day.’

It was the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners since the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire began on Jan. 19. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Friday said that he isn’t interested in deporting Prince Harry, who famously left Britain with his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020, eventually settling in Montecito, California. 

The Duke of Sussex is in hot water after conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit last year against the Department of Homeland Security to have his immigration records released following Harry admitting to illegal drug use in the past in his 2023 memoir ‘Spare.’

‘I don’t want to do that,’ Trump told the New York Post on Friday after being asked if he would deport the royal. ‘I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.’

Markle has criticized Trump in the past, calling him ‘misogynistic’ and ‘divisive’ during a TV appearance ahead of the 2016 election. 

In 2019, before a state visit to the U.K. during his first term as president, Trump called the Duchess of Sussex ‘nasty’ over her remarks about him. 

He then went on to meet with the royal family during the visit, minus Markle, who was with newborn Archie at the time. 

He also told Piers Morgan in 2022 that Harry was ‘whipped like no person he had ever seen.’

The Heritage Foundation in its lawsuit says that Harry may have lied on his immigration forms about his past drug use or was given preferential treatment by the government and called on the records to be released. 

‘I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,’ Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation previously told the New York Post.

‘It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. No one should be above the law,’ Gardiner added. ‘Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use.’

This week a federal judge said he is ‘likely’ to release Harry’s immigration files after the first hearing in the royal’s high-profile case since Trump took office.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols said Harry’s files should be released ‘to the maximum extent possible,’ during Wednesday’s hearing in Washington, D.C., according to a report from the New York Post, with the judge reasoning that he is ‘required to make public everything that can be made public’ but would take care not to violate any privacy laws.

Last year during the campaign, Trump told Nigel Farage in an interview that the government would have to take the ‘appropriate action’ if Harry was found to have lied on his immigration forms, but didn’t explicitly say he would seek to deport him. 

Trump also accused the Biden administration of ‘protecting’ Harry, saying in a separate interview with the Daily Express in February 2024 ‘I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.’

On Friday, Trump conversely praised Prince William, with whom Harry has a long-running feud, as a ‘great young man.’ 

Trump recently met with William in December in Paris when the two attended the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral following its devastating fire. 

Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation declaring February 9th as ‘Gulf of America Day’ as he flew over the recently renamed body of water on his way to make history at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday afternoon. 

‘MOMENTS AGO ON AF1: President Trump signed a Proclamation declaring February 9th ‘Gulf of America Day’ while flying over the newly and appropriately named GULF OF AMERICA!’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced in a post on X.

‘Air Force One is currently in international waters, the first time in history flying over the recently renamed Gulf of America,’ the White House shared in a video on X, showing Trump signing the proclamation.

Trump signed the proclamation aboard Air Force 1, while traveling to Super Bowl LIX. He will be the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl.

‘Today, I am very honored to recognize February 9, 2025, as the first ever Gulf of America Day,’ the proclamation read.

‘I took this action in part because, as stated in that Order, ‘[t]he area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America.’

‘Today, I am making my first visit to the Gulf of America since its renaming,’ the proclamation continued. ‘As my Administration restores American pride in the history of American greatness, it is fitting and appropriate for our great Nation to come together and commemorate this momentous occasion and the renaming of the Gulf of America.’

Former North Dakota Gov. and current Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum also praised the president and celebrated the gulf’s official day.

‘It’s official! Congratulations @POTUS on the Gulf of America! Interior has implemented your instruction from the Executive Order on Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,’ Burgum wrote.

‘Another big win for President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again.’

‘It’s official! Proclamation signed aboard Air Force 1 above the Gulf Of America!’ Trump’s son, Eric Trump, posted on X.

Trump announced his push for the name change during his first press conference as the 47th President of the United States of America.

‘We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory,’ Trump previously said at his first news conference. ‘The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.’

The changes will apply to official federal documents and maps, though it is unclear whether the order also requires schools to use the new terminology.

Trump has also pushed to rename Alaska’s Mount Denali, pointing out that it was originally named after President William McKinley.

‘McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president,’ Trump said at a December rally. ‘They took his name off Mount McKinley, right? That’s what they do to people. Now, he was a great president, very good president. At a minimum, he was a very good businessman. He was a businessman, then a governor, very successful businessman.’

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

President Donald Trump announced plans to put a stop to producing pennies, which cost more than their value to make.

‘For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.’

He added, ‘Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.’

This is the president’s latest move to reduce spending in the U.S. after taking office on Jan. 20.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, posted on X last month that producing the penny is costing American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, suggesting that it may be one of the items it may consider eliminating. 

Musk’s initiative, aimed at cutting $2 trillion in federal spending, didn’t directly state that the penny would be eliminated, but highlighted that it costs three times more to make than it’s actually worth.

According to the U.S. Mint, each penny costs 3.69 cents to produce in fiscal year 2024, costing taxpayers $119 million. This marked the 19th consecutive year in which production exceeded its face value. 

In the U.S., the penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792. When it was first produced, the coin was larger and made of pure copper. Today’s smaller coin is made mostly of zinc, according to the U.S. Mint.

Fox News Digital’s Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he remains committed to the U.S. purchasing and owning Gaza, but that he may allow Middle Eastern countries to rebuild sections of the area ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

Trump made the comment when speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

‘I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,’ Trump said. ‘As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.’

‘There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished,’ he said.

The president also said he was open to the possibility of allowing some Palestinian refugees into the U.S. but that those requests would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Trump said last week at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wants the U.S. to take over Gaza after Palestinians are resettled in other countries.

‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,’ Trump said at the time. ‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.’

‘Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,’ he added. ‘Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.’

Several countries have criticized Trump’s comments about taking over Gaza, which was bombarded by Israeli forces in the conflict sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against the Jewish State.

Trump also said on Jan. 25 that he wanted Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations to accept more Palestinian refugees from Gaza, potentially moving out enough people to ‘just clean out’ the area.

‘You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,” he said at the time.

Palestinians feared during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is now under a ceasefire, that they would suffer from another ‘Nakba,’ meaning catastrophe in Arabic, which refers to the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 war at the birth of the State of Israel.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo when asked about Trump’s plan to take over Gaza that the U.S. president was slated to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

‘President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well,’ Herzog said.

‘These are partners that must be listened to, they must be discussed with. We have to honor their feelings as well and see how we build a plan that is sustainable for the future,’ he added.

Saudi Arabia is among the many countries that have rejected Trump’s plan to take over Gaza. Jordan’s King Abdullah II reportedly plans to tell Trump during their scheduled meeting on Tuesday that the proposal is a recipe for radicalism that will spread chaos throughout the Middle East and put at risk the kingdom’s peace with Israel.

Reuters contributed to this report.