Washington – The American agency for international development is at dawn to be closed, according to the Trump administration billionaire advise and CEO of X, SpaceX and Tesla Elon Muskwho has fought for the agency’s control in recent days.
Early on Monday, Musk held a live session on X spaces, previously known as Twitter spaces, and said that he had spoken in detail from the USAID with President Trump. “He agreed that we should stop him,” said Musk.
“It has become obvious that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, what we really have, just a ball of worms,” ​​said Musk. “… you must essentially get rid of all this … it’s more repair. … We close it.”
Three US officials told CBS News on Monday that USAID will be merged In the State Department with important cuts on the labor market, but will remain a humanitarian aid entity. Trump administration officials should announce the movements in the coming days. Discussions on the extent of funding reductions remained fluid on Monday.
Addressing the journalists of the Oval Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump said that he loved the “concept” of the USAID “, but they turned out to be radical madmen,” he said, without providing details.
Matt Hopson, who was recently appointed USAID USAID chief of staff, resigned on Sunday, according to two USAID staff members. There was no mass email on this subject. Staff members said it occurred after their participation, alongside the other two security employees, preventing DOGE officials from having access to the weekend.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that he was now the acting administrator of the USAID and that he would delegate his daily authority for this, without specifying to whom.
USAID staff members were invited to stay outside the agency’s headquarters in Washington on Monday, according to an opinion distributed to them. Staff members said they had followed 600 employees who said they were locked in the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those who are still in the system have received emails saying that “to the management of the agency” the head office “will be closed to the agency staff on Monday, February 3.
On Monday morning, staff members came by the agency annex to obtain their personal effects, but the turnstiles had been disabled and they were escorted from the building.
USAID oversees humanitarian, development and security programs in around 120 countries around the world. According to the non -partisan Congress Research ServiceUSAID “provides assistance to strategically important countries and countries in conflict; leads American efforts to reduce poverty, disease and humanitarian needs; and helps American commercial interest by supporting the economic growth of developing countries”.
A European diplomat told CBS News that they consider the decision to dismantle it as “an extraordinary gift for Russia / China”.
Foreign aid overall, of which USAID is a part, explains Less than 1% of the federal budget.
Most USAID employees abroad are personal service entrepreneurs in the country, and they have also experienced their system and their access by e-mail without communication on their employment status or what is expected ‘them.
Musk’s comments in the X space session came after the administration has placed two best security leaders at USAID on leave. USAID Director for Security John Vorhees and Deputy Security Director Brian McGill were on leave on Saturday evening, Two confirmed sources at CBS News.
Several sources have confirmed to CBS News that the two senior security officials were dismissed for trying to block DOGE access to classified equipment in limited areas. This was reported for the first time by The Associated Press Sunday.
The Musk Doge’s Coal Lack of Musk was missing security authorization enough to access this information, so that the two USAID officials have legally judged to refuse access, AP reported.
DOGE staff finally had access to classified information from the aid agency, which includes intelligence reports on Saturday, said the former PA in the AP.
Kate Miller, who sits on advisory advice for Doge, did not respond to requests for comments but made Republican the article AP on x With the commentary, “no classified equipment has been accessible without appropriate security authorization.”
Current and former US officials were aware of the incident and spoke under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to share the information.
Musk responded on Sunday to an X Post on the news saying: “USAID is a criminal organization. It is time to die.” He followed with additional messages on X on the help agency.
This comes a day after DOGE has carried out an operation similar to the Treasury service, accessing sensitive information, including social security and payment systems for Medicare customers. The Washington Post reported that a senior treasure official had resigned from the Musk team accessing sensitive information.
On Monday, the head of the minority of the Hakeem Jeffries Chamber wrote in a letter to the Democrats of the Chamber that they would soon introduce the legislation “would prevent illegal access to the payment system of tax services which contains high and personal information related Social security and health insurance.
Musk trained DOGE in cooperation with the Trump administration with the aim of finding means to dismiss federal workers, reduce programs and reduce federal regulations.
USAID, whose website has disappeared on Saturday without explanation, was one of the most targeted federal agencies by the Trump administration in an increasing repression of the federal government and many of its programs.
“It was led by a pile of radical crazy people. And we released them,” Trump told journalists on the USAID on Sunday evening.
The Trump Administration and the Secretary of State Rubio imposed an unprecedented freezing on foreign assistance which closed a large part of the humanitarian, development and security programs of the USAID worldwide – forcing thousands of layoffs By help organizations – and ordered leave and leave that have emptied the agencies of the Leadership and Personal Agency in Washington.
Representative Brian Mast, Chairman of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested on Sunday On “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan“That the USAID could” probably “be” rolled up “within the framework of the State Department, although it is already the Secretary of State.
“I would be absolutely intended, if it is the path we take, by removing USAID as a separate department and by making it note the question of whether the other parts of the United States Department of the United States” said Mast.
The United States is by far the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, with USAID, administering billions of dollars in humanitarian, development and security in more than 100 countries.
Peter Marocco, a policy of return to Mr. Trump’s first mandate, was a leader in the application of the closure. USAID staff members say they believe that agency foreigners with visitors’ badges asked employees inside Washington’s headquarters are members of the Musk DOGE team.
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said on Sunday in an article that the president let Musk access people’s personal information and closed government funding.
“We have to do everything in our power to repel and protect people from evil,” said Massachusetts Senator, without giving details.
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Aaron Navarro And
contributed to this report.