Elon Musk, a tech entrepreneur, announced on Monday that he and President Donald Trump were in the process of closing the U.S. Agency for International Development, intensifying their campaign against federal bureaucracy and going against Congress’s constitutional authority to decide how funds are allocated.
In the middle of the night, Musk, the leader of Trump’s government efficiency program, made an audio-only announcement on his social media platform X about the shutdown.
“We’re going to shut it down,” he stated. “We are in the process of shutting down USAID,” he added at another time.
Musk did not specify how soon the administration intended to take action or what legal power he thought the White House had to close a government agency without the consent of Congress. He claimed to have discussed the concept with Trump on multiple occasions and to have the president’s complete support.
I thoroughly reviewed the USAID material with him, and he concurred that we ought to shut it down, he stated. In fact, I asked him several times, “Are you certain?” “I said.” According to him, Trump remarked, “Yes.”
A request for comment to Musk’s remarks early on Monday morning was not immediately answered by the White House.
While Trump did not go so far as to say he intended to close down USAID, with or without congressional approval, he did say Musk is doing a fantastic job and that the organization is run by a group of radical lunatics on Sunday.
More than a dozen current and former officials and sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News that Trump administration officials have discussed transferring USAID to the State Department. Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have argued that this would be against a law passed by Congress that established the agency.
According to Trump, he is halting almost all foreign aid from the United States while a 90-day review is conducted.
Every year, USAID receives funding from Congress, mostly for international charities and foreign aid. Its 2023 fiscal year budget was approximately $40 billion, the Congressional Research Service reported last month. That is a very small portion of the $1.7 trillion in total federal discretionary spending.
Following a restructuring of foreign assistance authorized by Congress, President John F. Kennedy established USAID by executive order in 1961.
According to five people who spoke to NBC News, Musk’s declaration came after an odd incident on Saturday in which the director of security for USAID and his deputy were placed on administrative leave for attempting to bar staff from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from using safe USAID systems. According to two of the whistleblowers, DOGE staff threatened to contact the US Marshals. According to three of the sources, the DOGE staff eventually managed to access the encrypted systems, but it was unclear what data they were able to view.
Last Monday, it was already evident that the Trump administration and Musk’s team intended to drastically restructure USAID, one of numerous federal organizations where confusion and anxiety are engulfing the workforce. Last Monday, USAID placed over fifty of its career civil officials on administrative leave.
In the past, USAID has collaborated with SpaceX, one of Musk’s businesses. In 2022, the agency declared that it had teamed up with SpaceX to supply the Ukrainian government with 5,000 Starlink satellite internet terminals in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
However, Musk termed USAID hopeless and beyond repair on Monday. Additionally, he stated that the agency was not a good thing, but in reality, we have a lot of problems.
Musk added in an X post that he had fed USAID into the wood chipper over the weekend. may have attended some fantastic parties. Instead, I did that.
Longtime federal spending critic Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, joined Musk on the call and expressed agreement with his assessment. However, it’s unclear how common that opinion is, especially in the Republican-controlled Congress.
According to the Impoundment Control Act, a federal legislation passed in 1974, the president is normally not allowed to withhold monies that Congress has authorized. A future legal battle is hinted at by some Trump aides who claim the statute is illegal.
Shortly after midnight ET on Monday, Musk gave his first public speech at the one-hour event on X since he and a team of aides started overhauling federal agencies last week.
Musk stated that he intends to implement significant additional changes, such as the complete elimination of restrictions.
Basically, regulations ought to be removed by default. He stated, “Default gone, not default there, default gone,” although he did not specify if he was referring to himself or other government officials.
Musk added that Trump had to take action quickly.
Our shot is this. He declared, “This is the best hand of cards we will ever have.” Either now or never.