Elon Musk, who directs Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the federal government, said they tried to close the USAID foreign aid agency, in a discussion on social networks on X early on Monday.
The conversation, which included the former republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy and the republican senator Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, started with Musk saying that they were working to close the United States agency for international development (USAID ).
“This is more reparation,” said Musk, adding that Trump agreed that he should be closed.
On Sunday, Reuters reported that the Trump administration had withdrawn two senior security officials from USAID during the weekend after trying to stop representatives of the so-called “Department of Government” of the billionaire , or DOGE, access to restricted parts of the building, according to three sources.
USAID is the world’s largest donor. During the year 2023, the United States paid $ 72 billion in the world’s health, from women’s health to conflict areas to access to drinking water, HIV treatment / AIDS, energy security and anti-corruption work. It provided 42% of all humanitarian aid followed by the United Nations in 2024.
The USAID website seemed to be offline on Saturday and some users were unable to access it on Sunday. USAID has staff of more than 10,000 people.
Trump has ordered a global freezing on most American foreign aid as part of its “America First” policy which already sends shock waves worldwide. Thai refugee camp campaign hospitals, the release of terrestrial mines in war areas and drugs to treat millions suffering from illnesses such as HIV are among the programs at risk of elimination.
Speaking more broadly from the reduction in American expenses and fraud, Musk said that the Trump administration can reduce 1 t $ from the American deficit next year. Musk did not propose any evidence in support of his claim for fraud or explained how he reached the amount of 1 TN.
He said, for example, that the “professional foreign fraud rings” steal large sums by pretending to be or creating false digital American citizens.
The online cat intervenes in the middle of the concerns concerning Musk’s access to the treasure system, reported for the first time by the New York Times, which sends more than $ 6 per year of payments in the name of federal agencies and contains information personal of millions of Americans who receive the social security payments, tax reimbursements and other government funds.
Democrat Peter Welch, a member of the Senate finance committee, called for explanations on the reasons why Musk had received access to the payment system and what Welch said inclined the sensitive taxpayers.
“It is a raw abuse of power by an unleashed bureaucrat and it shows that money can buy power in the White House of Trump,” Welch said in a statement sent by e-mail.
Musk has the support of Trump. When asked if Musk was doing a good job on Sunday, Trump accepted. “It is a big boiling cup. Sometimes we will not agree with this and we will not go where he wants to go. But I think he is doing a great job. He’s an intelligent guy. Very intelligent. And it consists in reducing the budget of our federal budget. »»
