On Sunday night, Trump attacked the aid agency’s leadership saying they were a “bunch of radical lunatics.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was named acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development on Monday, told lawmakers he plans to review and potentially restructure or abolish parts of USAID .
Rubio told lawmakers in a letter “USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” according to, citing agency activities he considered “conflicting” and “overlapping” alongside systems that “often result in the discord of the foreign policy and foreign relations of the United States.”Rubio appointed Pete Marocco, USAID’s director of foreign assistance, to oversee day-to-day operations of the agency , during which Musk said he checked with the president a few times about USAID—which Musk claimed, without evidence, was “incredibly politically partisan”—and asked “Are you sure?” and Trump said yes, “so we’re shutting it down.” Musk described USAID as not just an “apple with a worm it in” but rather a “bowl of worms” which was “beyond repair” and the only solution was “You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing.” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who was also on the stream, said if there are “truly good pro-American programs” under USAID’s authority they should be moved under the State Department and “make sure we have proper oversight.”We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” toEarlier on Sunday evening, Trump was asked by reporters about the state of USAID and said: “Well it's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out...and then we'll make a decision.”“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” Rubioreporters Monday. “Every dollar we spend and every program we fund ... will be aligned with the national interest of the United States, and USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that they’re somehow a global charity.”USAID is the primary international humanitarian aid and development branch of the U.S. government, and is operated both as an “independent establishment” and under “the direct authority and policy guidance of the Secretary of State,” and each administration has taken its own approach to how that should look, according to the. The organization was established in 1961 and provides assistance to countries and leads U.S. efforts against poverty, disease and humanitarian need. In fiscal year 2023, the agency had more than 10,000 employees, managed more than $40 billion in appropriations and gave assistance to about 130 countries.CNN, the two USAID officials were placed on administrative leave on Saturday and the DOGE operatives were ultimately able to access the classified materials despite lacking the appropriate security clearances. Musk responded to CNN’s report by calling USAID a “criminal organization” without any evidence and adding that it was “time for it to die.”on Monday that USAID spent up to $1 million on SpaceX’s Starlink terminals over the last four years, according to federal contract records, and brought the satellite terminals to countries including Zimbabwe and South Africa. On April 5, 2022, USAIDit delivered 5,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine through a “public-private partnership” with SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company. The terminals were designed to allow officials and service providers to continue communicating with Ukraine amid its war with Russia, was impacting cellular communication infrastructure. Two years later, on May 14, 2024, the USAID Office of Inspector General said it was initiating an inspection of USAID’s oversight of the terminals it provided to the Ukrainian government. The inspection sought to determine how Ukraine used the terminals and how USAID monitored their usage, according to an agency page accessed on the WayBackMachine.on Saturday afternoon amid a push by the Trump administration to bring the independent aid agency under the direct control of the State Department. Trump’s recent actions—including an order to freeze most foreign aid—have triggered confusion and uncertainty at the agency over the past week as staffers feared an impending shutdown. Several of the agency’s signs were taken down from its Washington D.C. offices on Friday, NBC Newsthat shutting down USAID and a halt on U.S. foreign aid may have a catastrophic humanitarian impact across the world.Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kindContinuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejectedAttempts or tactics that put the site security at riskProtect your community.
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