- ‘We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,’ Elon Musk said
Officials are shutting down a federal agency called the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with President Donald Trump’s blessing, Elon Musk said on Feb. 3.
“He agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said during a live session on the social media platform X, after saying he had spoken with Trump about the agency.
“It became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”
Musk added in a post on X: “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
Musk runs the Department of Government Efficiency, which focuses on tightening government spending and improving efficiency. He donated to Trump’s campaign and has appeared with the president at various events.
USAID “has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics,” Trump told reporters on Sunday night. “We’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision.”
USAID and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
USAID staffers were also told Monday to stay out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, according to a notice, which said the decision was made by agency leadership.
USAID’s website went offline over the weekend and hundreds of contractors have been laid off in recent days, a person familiar with the agency’s developments told The Epoch Times.
New leadership at USAID had previously placed some officials at the agency on leave because they allegedly tried to figure out how to circumvent Trump’s orders, according to a memorandum.
President John F. Kennedy, in an executive order in 1961, established USAID as an independent agency to provide foreign assistance. Its available budget has ballooned to north of $50 billion in recent years. It had over 10,000 workers, in addition to contractors, as of fiscal year 2023. The workers are stationed across dozens of countries around the world.
Trump signed an executive order within hours of being sworn in as president on Jan. 20 freezing foreign aid to allow for an analysis to see if existing commitments align with his agenda. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since outlined some exceptions, including for life-saving assistance.
Rubio, in his first public comments on the matter, said on Thursday that USAID’s programs were being reviewed to eliminate any that are not in the U.S. national interest, but he said nothing about eliminating it as an agency.
Democrats have said they oppose dissolving USAID.
Shutting down the agency would be “illegal and against our national interests,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on X.
@The Epoch Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
