Musk says Trump wants to shut down U.S. foreign aid agency

Musk says Trump wants to  shut down U.S.  foreign aid agency.
President Trump has  not said the U.S. Agency for International Development should be  shut down. Elon  Musk's comments  add to questions  about its future..
Elon Musk said early Monday that President Trump believes the U.S. Agency for International Development should be shut down,  raising questions about the  administration's plans for the U.S.  government's main agency for humanitarian aid and development  assistance. Mr. Trump  did not say the agency should be dissolved. Musk said during an event broadcast on X, his social media platform, that he had discussed  USAID in detail with the  president, who agreed  "we need to shut it down."
"I want to be clear," Musk added. "I actually checked with him  several times. I said, 'Are you sure?' 'Yes.' So  let's shut it down."
In comments to reporters on Sunday, Mr. Trump said he  believed the agency  was run by "radical  lunatics."

RECORDING
"We're going to take them  out and then we'll make a decision," he  said.
The Trump administration's moves to  cut international aid programs that  rely on grants from U.S. agencies have  plunged aid groups around the world into crisis.  USAID spent about $38.1 billion on health services, disaster relief,  poverty reduction efforts and other programs in fiscal year 2023.  That's less than 1 percent of the federal  budget.
In Washington, current and former  USAID employees and lawmakers  have raised the possibility that the  congressionally funded  agency could be  incorporated into the State Department in a significantly reduced form. The State Department and  USAID did not respond to requests for comment  Sunday.
Trump administration appointees have already suspended dozens of senior  USAID officials and issued  cease-and-desist orders that  have led to the  firing of hundreds of contractors. On Saturday, the agency's two top security officials were  placed on administrative leave after  refusing to allow representatives of Mr. Musk's task force access to internal systems, according to officials  familiar with the  matter. Mr. Musk's  job, called the Department of Government Efficiency, is not a department. But President Trump has given him  broad latitude to find ways to  reduce government  spending.

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