By Solomon 
It looks like things are getting chaotic at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Staff were told to stay away from their Washington headquarters after Elon Musk claimed Donald Trump planned to shut the agency down completely.
Musk, never one to hold back, said USAID isn’t just flawed—it’s completely rotten. “It’s not an apple with a worm in it. It’s just a ball of worms,” he said. According to him, there’s no fixing it, so it’s time to scrap the whole thing.
He also confirmed he had multiple conversations with Trump about shutting USAID down, saying, “I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed.” Musk even double-checked with Trump to make sure he was serious.
USAID workers noticed something was up when 600 employees found themselves locked out of their agency accounts overnight. Those still in the system got emails saying the headquarters would be closed on Monday, February 3, per leadership’s orders.
Musk made his stance clear on social media, calling USAID a “criminal organization” that needed to go. Trump also slammed the agency, saying it was run by “radical lunatics” and that they were being cleared out.
Despite Trump’s claims, USAID’s budget is actually controlled by Congress. In 2023, it had around $40 billion to work with.
This all comes after Trump’s administration sidelined two top security officials at USAID. Their apparent crime? Refusing to let Musk’s government-inspection team access classified information. Eventually, Musk’s team, called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), got in. The catch? They didn’t actually have the proper security clearance to view those documents.
The two security officials, John Voorhees and Brian McGill, believed they were legally required to block access—but it looks like that didn’t end well for them.