Kevin O'Leary Says, 'We've Never Audited The Government For 100 Years'—Gets Fact-Checked On The Spot: 'It Helps To Know Some Things'

Kevin O'Leary, the businessman and TV personality, recently claimed that the U.S. government has not been audited in a century. However, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Tom Malinowski quickly corrected him during a CNN interview, pushing back against what he called a “ridiculous” argument.

O’Leary’s Claim: ‘There’s No Way To Be Surgically Precise’

During the discussion, O’Leary argued that cutting government spending requires broad action because there is no way to precisely identify waste. “Yes, you can’t be surgically precision. There’s no way to be surgically precision in this. You have to cut more because you just don’t know,” O’Leary stated. He went on to say, “Remember, we’ve never audited government for 100 years. Never done this before.”

O'Leary: We've never audited the government for 100 years.

Malinowski: It helps to know some things if we're going to have this debate. Every agency of the federal government is audited by independent inspectors general. one of the first things that Trump and Musk did was fire… pic.twitter.com/d3NEmlxBNz

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 25, 2025

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Malinowski immediately pushed back on O'Leary's assertion, saying, “Every agency of the federal government is audited by independent inspectors general.” He said the United States Agency for International Development alone underwent more than 60 audits last year.

Trump’s Mass Firing Of Government Watchdogs

Malinowski also pointed out that President Donald Trump removed several inspectors general, the independent watchdogs responsible for keeping federal agencies in check. “One of the first things that Donald Trump and Elon Musk did was to fire all of the inspectors general. They fired the auditors and they put in charge this billionaire with his 50 child interns who know absolutely nothing about the federal government,” Malinowski said.

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Trump dismissed 17 inspectors general across various federal agencies, skipping the legally required 30-day notice to Congress. The firings, described by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer as a “chilling purge,” have been criticized for weakening oversight and allowing potential corruption. “Inspectors General are the cops on the beat preventing bad things from happening,” Max Stier, president of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said in a statement. 

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley also questioned the move, saying, “There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so… Regardless, the 30-day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress.”

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Government Waste Exists—But There’s A Right Way To Fix It

While Malinowski acknowledged that government inefficiencies exist, he disagreed with O'Leary's idea of simply firing people before investigating. “What you’re talking about might work for a company that makes widgets because we can do without the company that makes widgets for a few months while you get in there and you restructure it,” he said. “You can’t do that to the [Federal Aviation Administration] unless people aren’t going to fly in planes for the next four or five months. You can’t do that to the Defense Department unless you don’t want to defend this country for the next four or five months.”

Malinowski emphasized that reducing waste should be done through proper channels: “Do the investigation. Work with Congress. Work with these employees. Do it right. It's been done before.”

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