US President Donald Trump has criticized the leadership of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), claiming the organization is being poorly run by “radical lunatics.” This criticism comes after two high-ranking security officials at USAID were reportedly placed on leave after they attempted to prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from gaining access to the organization’s systems.
USAID is an agency tasked with promoting US interests abroad through various forms of support for foreign governments and international institutions.
In response to a question about the agency, Trump said on Sunday, “It’s being run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we’re going to get rid of them and then we’re going to make a decision about their future.”
This comment followed reports that representatives of DOGE, led by Elon Musk, had visited the USAID headquarters in Washington DC last week. Over the weekend, the official USAID website went offline and the agency’s X-account disappeared amid reports that the White House is considering merging the agency with the State Department.
On Monday, Musk announced that he had spoken with Trump, who “agreed” that USAID should be closed.
Musk made the statement during an X-Space stream on Sunday night, in which he discussed DOGE. He said he had inquired multiple times with Trump, asking, “Are you sure?” and the president confirmed, “We’re going to close it.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk had previously accused USAID of financing biowarfare research, including projects that allegedly contributed to the emergence of COVID-19 and referred to the agency as a “criminal organization.”
On Friday, a team of DOGE inspectors gained access to USAID’s internal systems, including the website and important databases, as reported by sources familiar with the matter to ABC News.
The systems accessed included those containing reports on past and ongoing programs, as well as those used to track the data and performance data for all USAID programs worldwide, according to the source.
Reports also indicate that the group took control of a software system used by USAID for tracking and managing the budget, accounting and financial transactions of the agency.
Two high-ranking security officials at USAID were reportedly placed on leave after they attempted to prevent DOGE employees from accessing classified documents as the group audited the agency’s finances.
Last week, around 60 high-ranking officials at USAID were sent on administrative leave. The move followed Trump’s executive order, which suspended most foreign aid for 90 days to conduct a comprehensive review of expenses.