US to axe 50bn aid agency founded by JFK, says Musk

Elon Musk has threatened to shut down America’s 50bn-a-year 40bn) foreign aid agency USAID, calling it criminal” and beyond repair”.

- MADELINE SHERRATT

The billionaire tech mogul said president Donald Trump had agreed with him to close the federal agency, which was founded by president John F Kennedy and has the largest budget of its kind in the world.

USAID said its Washington DC headquarters were closed yesterday, and staff were told to work from home. Several hundred employees reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems.

“He [Mr Trump] agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said during a live discussion on X Spaces. “It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair. We’re shutting it down.” He branded USAID a “criminal organisation”, without anything to back up the wild claim, adding: “Time for it to die.”

While USAID has faced criticism and speculation over its spending in the past after an investigation from TBIJ, Musk did not provide any evidence to support his recent claims.