Trump launched a ‘war on fraud.’ Here's why it’s a 50‑state problem

President Trump declared a 'war on fraud,' but experts say it's a battle that has eluded presidents for decades.

President Donald Trump declared a new “war on fraud” during his State of the Union, embracing a task that has eluded presidents for decades. He even tapped his vice president to lead the effort.

"This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation and we are working on it like you wouldn't believe," Trump said.

It's a battle that fraud experts have pleaded with the government to on take for years as transnational criminal gangs have learned to savvily game the public safety net and steal trillions of dollars from American taxpayers.

The Government Accountability Office estimated in January that the government loses as much as $521 billion annually to fraud. Haywood Talcove, one of the country's top government fraud experts, told USA TODAY the fraud could be as high as $1 trillion a year or more.

Whether the new effort will have success is unclear. Most modern presidents have promised to expose the roots of fraud in government systems, but haven't suceeded.