Trump, USAID and Elon Musk

Trump and Elon Musk are upending USAID. Here's what to know about its work.
The State Department said President Trump appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting director of USAID amid an overhaul of the humanitarian aid agency.
What is USAID, the government agency targeted by Trump and Elon Musk?
Elon Musk called USAID a criminal organization that should “die.” Proponents say it’s a key arm of U.S. influence that, if destroyed, “cannot be easily rebuilt.”
Elon Musk said Donald Trump agreed USAID needs to be ‘shut down’
Elon Musk said President Donald Trump agreed the US Agency for International Development needs to be “shut down,” following days of speculation over the future of the agency after its funding was frozen and dozens of its employees were put on leave.
Elon Musk’s Bureaucratic Coup
Elon Musk is not the president, but it does appear that he—a foreign-born, unelected billionaire who was not confirmed by Congress—is exercising profound influence over the federal government of the United States,
Trump official warns ‘almost no one’ can control Elon Musk
Musk has been named as a special government employee, which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures than other workers. Trump has given Musk offic
How Elon Musk set off two weeks of chaos across Washington
Elon Musk and his allies have spent the last two weeks barreling full speed into multiple government agencies, causing confusion and chaos and raising questions about whether an unelected businessman can wield this kind of authority,
Elon Musk is shredding America’s government like he did Twitter
Even as Mr Musk was speaking, workers at USAID ’s headquarters in Washington were being told not to come in the next day. Some 600 of the agency’s staff seem to have been locked out of their emails. That followed a weekend in which the agency’s website went offline;
Elon Musk Has Broken the Constitutional Order
The second Trump administration is waging the most aggressive war on the American constitutional order since Appomattox. President Donald Trump selected Elon Musk, a South African–born tech oligarch,
Letters: Unelected Elon Musk is bent on breaking government
Aspiring to dictatorship | Power trip | Learning a thing. Mercury News reader letters to the editor for Feb. 5, 2025.
Elon Musk tightens his grip on federal government, Democrats are alarmed
Musk is working for Trump as a "special government employee," which means he's not subject to the same ethics and disclosure rules that are typical of government workers.
USAID is on Trump and Musk's cost-cutting list. Here's where the foreign aid agency spends its money.
USAID cuts, led by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, may reduce aid to Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia — but could cut wasteful ...
Trump and Musk are moving to smother these three pieces of the government
Donald Trump ran his presidential campaign promising to abolish entire federal agencies and departments, but it’s not quite ...
Republicans quiet as Trump and Musk take the ax to federal agencies
President Donald Trump’s administration this week launched one of its most brazen challenges yet to Congress’s authority.
What is USAID? Foreign aid from US suspended by President Trump and Elon Musk
Trump's overhaul of the federal government now has its sights set on foreign aid from the U.S. Here's what we know and which ...
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Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down
The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after ...
Elon Musk's USAID Shutdown Could Play Into Russia and China's Hands
One China expert told Newsweek that the USAID funding freeze had handed an "enormous gift" to Beijing's push to influence the ...
Trump says he’s opposed 'many' of Musk’s ideas, but praises effort to shut down USAID
Trump on Tuesday told reporters he opposed “many” of billionaire Elon Musk’s ideas to tackle government inefficiency, but praised his effort to shut down USAID.
Elon Musk gets quiet White House reminders his power isn't unchecked
Trump's aides have signaled behind the scenes that Musk still reports to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Congress is quiet as Trump and Musk take the ax to federal agencies
Republican lawmakers have raised few objections about the push to ax USAID, alarming Democrats who say the GOP is ceding ...
Trump's administration is pulling almost all USAID workers off the job worldwide
The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is pulling almost all U.S. Agency for International Development workers off the ...