Co-hosts of “The Five” criticized the federal government’s management of unemployment benefits after a new report claimed nearly half of it may have been stolen.
Fox Business host Kennedy said the figure added up to about $400 billion in stolen funds, suspected to be in the hands of crime syndicates in both China and Russia.
Later, co-host Greg Gutfeld noted that a Biden appointee tapped to lead the federal bureau that assists in the processing of unemployment claims previously saw nearly $600 million get stolen by a Nigerian fraud cartel while serving in a similar role in Washington state.
“This is an absolute travesty [and] a breach of the public trust,” fellow co-host Dana Perino said in response to the theft.
She said that a friend in New Jersey is one of untold numbers of Americans who have yet to receive even an initial unemployment payment since the pandemic started – while criminal organizations easily bilk the United States government and by extension taxpayers out of millions.
Perino noted that the FBI was able to recover millions in cryptocurrency paid as a ransom by Alpharetta, Ga.-based Colonial Pipeline to foreign hackers following a hack that crippled gas stations throughout Appalachia and the East Coast.
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“I think the government should not be allowed to do any more of these big massive payments without some new mechanism to get the money to people in a more honest fashion,” said Perino.
Co-host Jesse Watters commented that both the current and former president are liable because they have both had tenures managing the pandemic relief efforts.
“This country is so rich, $400 billion can walk out the door and no one even blinks an eye – it’s on both Trump and Biden both of them are accountable for it,” he said, adding that as Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has a special obligation to see what has happened and prevent such things, given that her chamber is in charge of federal monies.
Gutfeld later described the similar history of former Washington State Employment Security Department chief Suzi Levine, whom Biden tapped for interim assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration back in January:
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“Remember that Joe Biden appointed the person to oversee these pavements who had the same job in Washington state during which I think almost $1 billion was stolen — and who were they stolen by? Nigerians.” he said.
“We have people in government who got defrauded by Nigerian scammers. I know grandmothers who aren’t getting defrauded by Nigerian scammers and princes, the fact that this person was able to ‘fail up’ … it’s an abuse of the taxpayer.”
