Published on 04/02/2025
Elon Musk claims he and U.S. President Donald Trump have agreed to shut down USAID, the U.S. agency for international development.
In an audio message on X he said: “We’re shutting it down” adding that he had the “full support of the president”.
Spending for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is determined by Congress. Its budget for the 2023 fiscal year was about $40bn, according to a report last month from the Congressional Research Service. It works primarily to support foreign aid and overseas charities.
Mr Musk said he and the US president had discussed the move at length. “With regard to the USAID stuff, I went over [it] with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” he said. “I checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?'” he said. He said Mr Trump responded, “Yes”.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The comments came after two senior officials at USAID were suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk’s efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.
These included personnel files and security systems as well as security clearance information for agency employees.
When USAID director of security John Voorhees and his deputy, Brian McGill, refused to allow them in, the DOGE employees threatened to contact the federal Marshals Service, two of the sources said.
The DOGE employees were eventually able to gain access to the secure systems, but it was not clear what information they were able to obtain.
Both Mr Voorhees and Mr McGill have been placed on administrative leave.
DOGE was established using an executive order by Mr Trump after his inauguration to implement the president’s “agenda, by modernising federal technology and software to maximise governmental efficiency and productivity”.
Katie Miller, who worked in Mr Trump’s first administration and has since joined DOGE, said on X: “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Mr Musk posted on X on Sunday, calling for USAID “to die” and accused the independent agency, without offering evidence, of being a “criminal organisation”.
‘A bunch of radical lunatics – we’re getting them out’
Mr Musk developed DOGE in cooperation with the Trump administration with the stated goal of finding ways to sack federal workers, cut programmes and cut federal regulations.
USAID, which administers billions of dollars in humanitarian, development and security assistance in more than 100 countries, has been one of the federal agencies most targeted by the Trump administration.
“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out,” Mr Trump said to reporters about USAID on Sunday night.
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said in a post on Sunday that Mr Trump was allowing Mr Musk to access people’s personal information and shut down government funding.
“We must do everything in our power to push back and protect people from harm,” the Massachusetts senator said, without giving further details.
