Musk brands USAID criminal

Usa news:

Elon Musk attacked the US Agency for International Development, calling it a ‘criminal organisation’ on Sunday, as president Donald Trump claimed the agency was ‘run by radical lunatics’ and said he was considering its future.

The assault on the agency tasked with humanitarian relief overseas marks a significant new front in Trump’s move to give unprecedented power to Musk to upend government departments and counter what the pair consider wasteful official spending and overreach.

‘USAID is a criminal organisation,’ Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX who has become the president’s most powerful backer, wrote on his X platform, replying to a video alleging USAID involvement in ‘rogue CIA work’.

In a subsequent post, Musk doubled down and, without giving evidence, asked his 215 million X followers, ‘Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including Covid-19, that killed millions of people?’

He did not elaborate on the allegations, which officials in the previous administration linked to a Russian disinformation campaign.

USAID has ‘been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out… and then we’ll make a decision [on its future],’ Trump said Sunday without elaborating.

He underscored his support for the billionaire, telling reporters Sunday night he felt Musk was ‘doing a good job’.

Trump initially froze all aid spending for three months. Though he subsequently issued waivers for food and other humanitarian aid to continue, aid workers say uncertainty reigns with the future of the organisation as an independent agency far from assured.

USAID, an independent agency established by an act of Congress, manages a budget of $42.8 billion meant for humanitarian relief and development assistance around the world.

A senior official from a US-based organisation feared the prioritisation of ‘emergency’ assistance was part of a broader plan in which Washington would discontinue funds for anything else.

There have been reports Trump wants to roll USAID into the state department. His team did not respond to AFP’s calls for comment.

During a talk hosted on his X platform early Monday [Washington time], Musk said Trump ‘agreed that we should shut it [USAID] down.’

The X session—attended by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and two Republican senators—was on Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with slashing federal spending.

Without providing details, Musk said ‘tremendous progress’ had been made.