Thousands of USAID employees have been frozen out and programmes shut down around the world in the two weeks since Trump became president and imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Trump administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk moved to eradicate the agency that provides crucial aid that funds education and fights starvation, epidemic and poverty overseas, sparking a showdown with congressional Democrats who blasted the effort as illegal and vowed a court fight.
Employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been instructed to stay out of its Washington headquarters after Musk announced that President Donald Trump had agreed to shut the agency down.
More than 600 additional employees had reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those still in the system received emails saying that “at the direction of agency leadership” the headquarters building “will be closed to agency personnel on Monday, 3 February.”
USAID's website and its account on the X platform have also been taken down.
Trump told reporters on Monday that shutting down USAID "should have been done a long time ago", although he conceded that he "loved the concept of it" during his first term in office.
Asked whether he needs Congress to approve such a measure, the president said he did not think so.
"I don't know, I don't think so. No, we've, not when it comes to fraud, if there's fraud, these people are lunatics. And if if it comes to fraud, you wouldn't have an act of Congress. And I'm not sure that you would anyway," he said.
"But we just want to do the right thing. That's, it's something that should have been done a long time ago, went crazy during the Biden administration."
Meanwhile, Musk is leading a civilian review of the federal government with Trump's agreement, announcing on a live session of X Spaces that he had spoken with Trump at length about the agency and “he agreed we should shut it down.”
“It became apparent that it's not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early on Monday. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”
Over the weekend, the Trump administration placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former US official said.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, earlier carried out a similar operation at the Treasury Department, gaining access to sensitive information, including the Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems. US media reported that a senior Treasury official had resigned over Musk’s team accessing sensitive information.
The closure of USAID is part of a Trump administration crackdown that’s hitting across the federal government and its programmes.
The US is the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid, and the moves have upended decades of US policy that put humanitarian, development and security assistance in the centre of efforts to build alliances and counter adversaries such as China and Russia.
Trump, Musk and Republicans in Congress have made the US foreign assistance program a special target, accusing it of waste and advancing liberal social programs.
ADVERTISEMENTThe US spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign assistance, a smaller share overall than some other countries. Trump accused the Biden administration of fraud, without giving any evidence and only promising a report later on.
Democrats push back
The fast-moving developments at USAID have emerged as a particularly controversial flashpoint with Democrats who argue it symbolises the massive power Musk is wielding over Washington.
Lawmakers sought to enter USAID offices in Washington, saying they wanted to speak to any staffers remaining about the dismantling of the agency.
Department of Homeland Security officers and men identifying themselves as USAID employees blocked them. “Elon Musk's not here,” one told the lawmakers.
ADVERTISEMENTSenator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland called it an “illegal power grab” and said it was “a corrupt abuse of power that is going on.”
“It’s not only a gift to our adversaries, but trying to shut down the Agency for International Development by executive order is plain illegal,” he said.
Democrats said court challenges already were in the works and pledged to try to block approval of Trump’s State Department nominations until the shutdown is reversed.
Democrats are in the minority in the House and Senate after last November’s elections, leaving them with reduced leverage.
ADVERTISEMENTUS President John F Kennedy created USAID at the height of the Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union, looking for a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance.
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act, and Kennedy set up USAID as an independent agency in 1961.
USAID has outlived the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991. Today, supporters of the aid agency argue that US assistance in countries counters Russian and Chinese influence. China has its own Belt and Road foreign aid program worldwide, operating in many countries that Washington also sees as partners.