Tech mogul and Trump ally Elon Musk said Sunday that it’s time for the U.S. Agency for International Development “to die” — the latest sign that the Trump administration is about to eliminate or seriously restructure the 64-year-old agency.
USAID “is a criminal organization,” Musk, whom President Donald Trump has tasked with leading a government efficiency group — DOGE — wrote on X Sunday.
“Time for it to die,” he added.
It has been a turbulent weekend for USAID, as talks about potentially folding the agency into the State Department, first reported by POLITICO, have increasingly looked like they’re turning into a concrete plan to do so.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told CBS on Sunday that the agency “is likely to be going to be rolled more closely under Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio.” Mast said he was working with Rubio “to make sure there’s the appropriate command-and-control of these agencies” because now only between 10 to 30 percent of U.S. development funding USAID handles actually goes to aid. (Such numbers are a topic of fierce debate among aid experts.)
USAID’s main X account was deleted Saturday, and its website also has been down since then. Dozens of USAID officials have been put on leave since Saturday, according to congressional staffers informed of the moves. Late Sunday, a growing number of USAID employees began telling each other in chat groups that they had lost access to their official emails, according to a current and a former USAID official who were seeing the messages. The loss of access added to worries that even more USAID staff will be put on leave.
Also later in the day Sunday, Trump weighed in, saying that USAID was run by “a bunch of radical lunatics” and that the administration was pushing those people out while deciding the agency’s future.
Musk’s X post followed reports from CNN and the Associated Press that two senior USAID officials tried to block DOGE staffers from accessing USAID computer networks Saturday night.
A Democratic lawmaker and two Democratic Senate staffers, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive and fluid issue, confirmed that DOGE representatives did ultimately gain access to USAID classified and other systems on Saturday.
The situation drew condemnation from top Democrats, who are trying to rally GOP counterparts to their side as reports spread of DOGE representatives seeking access to an array of government systems without having proper security standing.
“Reports that individuals without appropriate clearance may have accessed classified USAID spaces as well as American citizens’ personal information are incredibly serious and unprecedented,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We are seeking immediate answers about any implications for our national security and are bringing a group of bipartisan senators together on this as soon as the Senate comes back tomorrow.”
According to the Democratic Senate staffers, around eight DOGE representatives — some with and some without proper security clearances — showed up to the main USAID offices demanding access to all doors and floors. When USAID security denied them access, the DOGE staffers warned they would call the U.S. Marshals Service to force USAID to let them in.
Eventually the DOGE officials received significant access.
“They were given access to several secure spaces, including the Office of Security and the Executive Secretariat,” one of the staffers said. “We understand that they sought access to, like out of their way to seek access to the Office of the Inspector General, but it’s not clear that they were able to access that space.”
After the standoff, the two senior USAID security officials were placed on administrative leave, along with dozens of other USAID officials, including many in the legislative affairs office, the Senate aides said. Matt Hopson, the Trump appointed USAID chief of staff who had been on the job only a few days, resigned after the dustup, a current USAID official said, confirming other reports.
Musk, DOGE and USAID didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk did, however, continue to post criticisms of USAID on X, including one in which he said — notably in past tense — “USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.”
Congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said Friday that the president didn’t have the authority to single-handedly strip the agency of its autonomy.
An X account for the Democrats in the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote Sunday that “DOGE’s attempt to bulldoze its way into classified systems is part of a broader agenda to dismantle U.S. foreign aid and soft power.”
One congressional Republican also shares the concerns about the impact of dismantling USAID.
Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, wrote on X on Saturday that reforms to USAID “must be done with precision and care so that America’s standing and ability to project soft power are maintained abroad.”
Any major structural reform to USAID is almost certain to need congressional approval. Trump could, however, simply announce a restructuring without issuing a formal executive order, further muddying questions about the legality of the moves.
One of the Democratic Senate staffers said Democrats are talking to Republican lawmakers and “encouraging them to engage with the administration.”
Former USAID officials and humanitarian groups have warned the decision to reduce USAID’s role could be detrimental to U.S. national security interests because it would leave a vacuum for China and other U.S. rivals to fill in developing countries.
It would follow a recent Trump administration freeze of U.S. foreign aid that has already roiled aid groups globally, many of which have had to lay off staff or stop life-saving work.
The disruption to aid funding has impacted the well-being of millions of people around the world who benefit from U.S. food aid distribution and the agency’s global health, climate resilience and educational efforts with a litany of partners.
The State Department has always informed and directed USAID’s policies. However, the agency has enjoyed significant structural and administrative autonomy. Under former President Joe Biden, the agency’s chief, Samantha Power, even enjoyed a seat on the National Security Council.
President John F. Kennedy created USAID through an executive order in 1961, to implement the Foreign Assistance Act he signed into law that year. The law required that an agency should be responsible for administering all U.S. development aid under the policy guidance of the secretary of State.
Source: Politico
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