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Tag: Elon

‘Damn right’: Liz Cheney’s past USAID employment faces backlash after lashing out at Elon Musk

Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ripped by conservatives on social media after she defended her previous work at USAID, which became the most prominent target of DOGE in recent days, in an exchange on X that drew the attention of DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk.

“Damn right, @Elon,” Cheney said on X in response to Musk, tagging an account that does not belong to Musk, on Wednesday. “I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.”

Musk had written “interesting” in response to a post from Foundation For Freedom Online Executive Director Mike Benz, who had written that Cheney was “spawned” out of USAID, citing her previous position as an officer for the embattled and now seemingly shuttered agency.

Cheney spent time at USAID working within embassies related to efforts in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.

MEET THE YOUNG TEAM OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS SLASHING GOVERNMENT WASTE AT DOGE: REPORT

Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney was criticized on social media after responding to Elon Musk regarding the USAID controversy. (Getty Images)

Several conservatives on social media took issue with Cheney’s comment and defended Musk against any implication that he is “unfamiliar” with U.S. history.

“He is an American by choice instead of by birth, which is a weird thing to insult someone over, but more importantly, he didn’t commit so many crimes against the country that he had to be pardoned by Joe Biden, so he’s got that going for him,” Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X.

“You care more about illegals coming to this country stealing from this country than @elon giving to this country,” former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones posted on X.

“Ya, but he was around when your daddy was making the military industrial complex billions sending me and my buddies to die chasing the ghosts of WMDs in Iraq,” Fox News contributor Joey Jones posted on X.

WHO IS SAMANTHA POWER? MEET THE BIDEN-ERA USAID LEADER FACING BACKLASH AMID MUSK’S DOGE CRACKDOWN

The flag of the U.S. Agency for International Development flies in front of its office in Washington, D.C., Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“Love the anti-immigrant sentiment from Liz,” Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. “Funny how they always end up being everything they claim their opponents are.”

“The fact Elon said a single word and was able to set you off tells me a lot, Liz,” Twitchy.com editor Samantha Janney posted on X. “What’s also revealing is your connection to USAID. Damn proud of WY for firing you.”

“What a xenophobe,” Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak posted on X. “Pure bigotry.”

“From Liz Cheney to Barack Obama, a lot of people still don’t appreciate how much of America’s political aristocracy class grew up in USAID families,” Benz posted on X earlier this week.

The online debate about Cheney’s time at USAID comes after Musk’s DOGE efforts have resulted in the agency being effectively shut down over what the Trump administration argues is wasteful spending.

“For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,” the White House said Monday.

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Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns with former Rep. Liz Cheney on Oct. 21, 2024, in Brookfield, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.

“The president made me the acting administrator,” he told Fox News. “I’ve delegated that power to someone who is there full time, and we’re going to go through the same process at USAID as we’re going through now at the State Department.”

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 6, 2025
Liz Cheney to Elon Musk regarding her past work at USAID: ‘Damn Right’

Former Rep. Liz Cheney emphatically acknowledged her past work for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) when responding to a tweet by Elon Musk.

Musk, who is spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort to slash government waste and fraud, has the agency in his crosshairs.

“Interesting,” Musk wrote in response to a post in which Mike Benz, founder and executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, said Cheney had been “spawned out of USAID.” Benz shared a screenshot from an article that said Cheney had worked at the agency.

“Damn right, @Elon. I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen,” Cheney declared when retweeting Musk.

USAID STAFFERS STUNNED, ANGERED BY TRUMP ADMIN’S DOGE SHUTDOWN OF $40B AGENCY

Left: Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington D.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024; Right: Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Left: William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images; Right: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Benz shared screenshots of Cheney’s post and of Musk’s post, and wrote, “‘Damn right I was spawned out of USAID.’ – Liz Cheney.”

“No kidding,” Musk replied when retweeting Benz.

President Donald Trump shared a screenshot of Musk’s post on Truth Social.

The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress notes that Cheney was a staffer at USAID from 1989-1992.

She was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

BIDEN AWARDS LIZ CHENEY, JAN 6 COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN A MEDAL: US ‘IS BETTER BECAUSE OF THEIR DEDICATION’

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., at a town hall at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on Oct. 21, 2024, in Royal Oak, Mich. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Last year she endorsed, and even campaigned with, former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate who lost to Trump.

During her congressional tenure, Cheney served on the House Select Committee that probed the Jan. 6 episode.

President Joe Biden, who awarded Cheney the Presidential Citizens Medal, pardoned lawmakers and staffers who served on the committee out of concern that they could be targeted in “politically motivated prosecutions.”

WHAT IS USAID AND WHY IS IT IN TRUMP’S CROSSHAIRS?

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During a recent X spaces, Musk said that unlike an apple contaminated by a worm, USAID is “a bowl of worms.”

“There is no apple,” he said. “It’s beyond repair.”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 6, 2025
Trump Treasury head defends Elon Musk’s DOGE despite critics’ ‘squawking’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addresses President Donald Trump’s economic and fiscal goals during his first interview on ‘Kudlow’ since joining the administration.

Since billionaire Elon Musk joined forces with President Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), various Democrats and other critics have complained over the Tesla founder’s influence on the federal government.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, however, came to Musk and DOGE’s defense on “Kudlow” Wednesday.

“Elon Musk is the greatest entrepreneur of this generation,” Bessent told FOX Business host Larry Kudlow in his first interview since joining the Trump administration.

“DOGE is not going to fail. They are moving a lot of people’s cheese here in the capital, and when you hear this squawking, then some status quo interest is not happy,” he continued.

WHAT HAS DOGE CUT SO FAR?

Bessent’s defense comes after weekend reports claimed the Treasury Department granted DOGE personnel access to the federal government’s payment system. The Treasury spends roughly $6 trillion per year on payments for federal agencies.

Since then, a Treasury Department official told members of Congress on Tuesday that a tech executive working with DOGE, will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system, stressing that it is committed to safeguarding the system after the department was granted access.

‘Varney & Co.’ host Stuart Varney discusses Elon Musk’s DOGE helping President Trump shut down USAID as more government slashing could be on the way.

The official wrote a letter in response to lawmakers who were concerned that DOGE’s access to the government’s payment system for the federal government could lead to security risks or missed payments for various programs, including Social Security and Medicare.

“At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched,” Bessent said Wednesday. “We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is. But in terms of payments being stopped, that is happening upstream at the department level.”

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

The Treasury’s payments are managed by its Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which disburses nearly 90% of all federal payments and conducts more than 1.2 billion transactions per year, according to its website.

While lawmakers have expressed concerns that Musk possesses too much power within the U.S. government, Bessent emphasized the billionaire’s efforts are part of the Trump administration’s “mandate” from the American people.

“The U.S. doesn’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. I think we can up the revenues, we can up the growth, and most importantly, President Trump got elected because of this affordability crisis… What is he going to do for the affordability crisis? Real wage growth for working Americans is the best way to fix this,” Bessent said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addresses President Donald Trump’s economic and fiscal goals during his first interview on ‘Kudlow’ since joining the administration. (Getty Images/Fox News / Fox News)

Bessent argued “gigantic government spending” fueled economic growth under the Biden administration but failed to bring about “real” wage growth.

In contrast, Bessent explained how the newly-elected Trump administration will tackle the affordability crisis by re-privatizing the economy, cutting taxes and regulations, addressing the growing deficit and boosting domestic energy production.

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FOX Business’ Landon Mion and Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

February 5, 2025
Social media, Team Trump react to Cory Booker’s ‘meltdown’ over Elon Musk’s USAID crackdown

Social media users are slamming a Democratic senator’s impassioned speech opposing a halt to millions of taxpayer dollars being funneled to controversial, DEI-aligned programs overseas.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke at a rally outside the Capitol building Wednesday in protest of Elon Musk’s sweep of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America,” Booker said. “We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up.”

Trump’s rapid response team called out Booker for opposing cuts to the agency funding controversial programs, which, according to the White House, gave $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

‘SESAME STREET IN IRAQ’: USAID’S ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’ SPENDING EXPOSED BY SENATOR

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks at a rally in support of USAID on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla)

“Why is Cory Booker so angry at the idea of making sure American tax dollars are spent to further the national interest of the United States and not on things like ‘LGBT activism’ in Guatemala?” Team Trump wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Cory Booker is having an absolute meltdown because we don’t want American tax dollars to be wasted on bizarre projects in foreign countries,” LibsofTikTok wrote.

WHITE HOUSE FLAGS TOP USAID BOONDOGGLES UNDER ELON MUSK’S MICROSCOPE

New Jersey state Sen. Mike Testa, a Republican, wrote that Booker is “grandstanding on behalf of foreign pet projects” instead of “standing up for the will of his constituents.”

“New Jerseyans have been kicked in the face and forgotten by their United States Senators for years,” Testa said on X. “We deserve a hell of a lot better.”

“Sen. Cory Booker is BIG MAD that lesbian dance therapy for Ethiopians will no longer be paid for by US tax dollars Why are Democrats like this?” wrote another user, Nick Sorter.

The White House released a detailed report outlining USAID spending over the past few years, including $15 million on contraceptives and condoms that ended up in the hands of the Taliban and another $20 million allocated to fund Sesame Street in Iraq.

The funds were awarded by the Biden administration to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” in an effort to reportedly “promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups.”

Protesters gathered outside the Capitol Monday rally against Elon Musk’s crackdown on USAID spending. (Fox News Digital)

Musk has been leading the charge to expose and cut funding from USAID as part of his spending crackdown at the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency.

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Hundreds of activists, including several Democratic members of Congress, gathered Wednesday to protest the USAID cuts and criticize Musk’s role in the Trump administration.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 5, 2025
Palantir CEO touts Elon Musk’s DOGE, ability to hold ‘sacred cows of the deep state’ accountable

‘Making Money’ host Charles Payne discusses the current state of global trade and The Fitz-Gerald Group principal Keith Fitz-Gerald analyzes Palantir on ‘Making Money.’

When asked whether the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would serve as roadblocks to their business, Palantir’s CEO and chief technology officer were overwhelmingly optimistic about the check-and-balance foundation that DOGE is laying.

“Palantir’s real competition is a lack of accountability in government, these forever software projects that cost an insane amount that don’t actually deliver results. They’re sacred cows of the deep state,” CTO Shyam Sankar said in the fourth-quarter earnings webcast on Tuesday.

“And I think DOGE is going to bring meritocracy and transparency to government. And that’s exactly what our commercial business is,” he continued. “The commercial market is meritocratic and transparent, and you see the results that we have in that sort of environment. And that’s the basis of our optimism around this.”

The artificial intelligence-enabled data analytics firm reached its own milestone this week, as investors reacted positively to Palantir’s Q4 earnings and caused shares to surge as high as 28% before settling at a 24% gain by market close.

WHAT IS U.S.A.I.D. AND WHY IS IT IN TRUMP’S CROSSHAIRS?

Forbes reported that Palantir’s market capitalization jumped up to $240 billion, a company record, making it more valuable than popular names like McDonald’s, American Express and Disney.

Top Palantir executives reportedly have no fears about risks DOGE could pose to its government contract-led business. (Getty Images)

More than half of Palantir’s business comes from government contracts. During an appearance on FOX Business in December, its CEO Alex Karp shared his wholehearted support for DOGE, adding that there’s no “better person” than Musk to lead it.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp opens up about the company’s success and weighs in on DOGE on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

“We love disruption, and whatever is good for America will be good for Americans and very good for Palantir,” Karp said on Tuesday’s webcast. “Disruption, [at] the end of the day, exposes things that aren’t working. There’ll be ups and downs. There’s a revolution. Some people can get their heads cut off.”

“We’re expecting to see really unexpected things and to win, basically, that’s what we’re going to do,” he expanded. “And we’re pretty optimistic about the U.S. environment.”

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Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar warns that if the United States entered a war with a near-peer adversary, our weapons stockpile would last weeks — not years — on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

“The work that we’ve done in government, it’s deeply operational, deeply valuable, and we’re pretty excited about exceptional engineers getting in there under the hood and being able to see that for a change,” Sankar also said.

As of Wednesday’s opening bell, Palantir stock was down slightly from its all-time Tuesday high of $105.79.

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

February 5, 2025
‘Squad’ Dem Ayanna Pressley trashes Elon Musk, calling him a ‘Nazi nepo baby’

“Squad” member Ayanna Pressley blasted business magnate Elon Musk as a “Nazi nepo baby” and “godless, lawless billionaire” during remarks at a rally.

She also seemed to take a jab at Tesla’s Cybertruck.

“Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who no one elected. Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of,” she declared.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS SLAM ELON MUSK’S ACCESS TO TREASURY DEPARTMENT: ‘WE ARE AT WAR’

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on “the disparate impact of school disciplinary policies and practices on Black and brown girls in K-12 public schools,” on Sept. 19, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A video shared on the congresswoman’s @RepPressley X account shows her and others chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go.”

In a post on the lawmaker’s @AyannaPressley account, Pressley had called Musk “a Nazi nepo baby who breaks everything he touches,” claiming, “Right now he’s locked himself in a room with grandpa’s Social Security check.”

Musk backed President Donald Trump during the 2024 election and is now spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort to expose government waste.

ELON MUSK DUNKS ON SEN CHUCK SCHUMER, DECLARING ‘HYSTERICAL REACTIONS’ DEMONSTRATE DOGE’S IMPORTANCE

“Doge has not looked at, nor is there any interest in, private financial data. What would we even do with it? The outgoing payment review process just looks at potential fraud and wasteful spending to organizations. Corrupt politicians are the ones complaining. I wonder why?” Musk has noted in a post on X.

The Treasury Department has noted that “the ongoing review of Treasury’s systems is not resulting in the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government.”

SENATOR SENDS MESSAGE TO DEMS UPSET OVER ELON MUSK’S DOGE TEAM: ‘GET USED TO THIS’

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“Currently, Treasury staff members working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems in order to continue this operational efficiency assessment,” the department noted.

“Mr. Krause is conducting this effort in coordination with veteran career Treasury officials, and all operational processes continue to be conducted only by career Treasury staff in accordance with all standard security, safety, and privacy standards,” Treasury noted. “In order to allow him to perform this function, he has been hired as an expert/consultant by the federal government and designated in a role commonly used across Administrations—a ‘special government employee’ —pursuant to applicable law.”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 5, 2025
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February 5, 2025
Bill Gates weighs in on new Trump administration, Elon Musk’s role

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, argues the current federal government is inefficient and not meeting the needs of the American people on Making Money.

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates opened up on his recent meeting with President Donald Trump and his thoughts on Elon Musk’s involvement with the new administration.

Gates was interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday and was asked by host Savannah Guthrie about his recent meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss his philanthropic endeavors through the Gates Foundation, which aims to fight poverty and disease around the world.

“The Gates Foundation works on saving lives, and the U.S. government has been an incredible partner, buying HIV medicine to keep tens of millions of people alive. And there’s so much innovation that can be done, you know, a vaccine for HIV,” Gates said.

“So I went to see President Trump to say, ‘Look, we both believe in saving lives. What can we do to accelerate innovation?’” he explained. “With the COVID vaccine, he did accelerate the availability of that.”

MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER BILL GATES ON DOGE: ‘COULD BE A VALUABLE THING’

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates discussed his recent meeting with President Trump in the interview. (Thierry Monasse/Rebecca Noble/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Guthrie asked if Gates felt like Trump was just placating him by saying he was receptive to the idea and whether he’s still hopeful after the president signed executive orders withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization and Elon Musk shutting down USAID.

“I’m still hopeful. I think all Americans can agree that keeping people alive for very little money, we should be proud of that. It started back with President [George W.] Bush. There’s some disruption going on now, and I want to engage positively to get things back on track,” the Microsoft co-founder said.

BILLIONAIRE BILL GATES DETAILS DINNER THAT LEFT HIM ‘IMPRESSED’ BY PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP

Guthrie asked Gates about his comments criticizing Musk’s involvement with far-right politicians overseas as being “insane s—” and whether he’s comfortable with Musk wielding power as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Well I admire the great private sector stuff he’s done — you know, SpaceX, Tesla, both amazing companies. I think in the case of USAID, he doesn’t appreciate the phenomenal work that goes on. It’s not partisan work,” Gates said, noting its work on promoting nutrition around the world.

Gates also discussed Musk’s role with DOGE and his criticism of USAID. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Guthrie noted that Musk said that USAID is “beyond repair,” and Gates responded that his philanthropic work has given him a closer perspective of the agency’s work, which Musk may not be fully aware of.

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“I give billions of dollars to the same thing that USAID does,” Gates said. “I go out in the field and study these things. I hire scientists, and so I think if he really knew the work there, he wouldn’t be telling 10,000 people to not come and do that work.”

February 4, 2025
White House flags top USAID boondoggles under Elon Musk’s microscope

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The White House on Monday released a list of projects overseen by the top U.S. aid agency it identified as “waste and abuse” as Elon Musk’s cost cutters seek to dismantle the decades-old provider of foreign aid.

Musk, a “special government employee,” according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, oversees the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Despite its title, DOGE is not a government agency but has been tasked by the White House’s executive office with dismantling top spending initiatives, and the billionaire’s most recent target is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,” the White House said Monday.

According to a list released by the White House, USAID allocated millions of dollars for programs the Trump administration considers controversial and that frequently involved diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives launched during the Biden administration.

WHAT IS USAID AND WHY IS IT IN TRUMP’S CROSSHAIRS?

Billionaire Elon Musk is a “special government employee” working for the Trump administration to root out wasteful spending. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

At the top of the list was a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities” and a $70,000 program for a “DEI musical” in Ireland.

Initiatives that supported LGBTQI programs were also flagged as an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds, including $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia, $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru and $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala.

Fox News Digital could not independently verify the initiatives detailed by the White House in Colombia or Guatemala. The White House referenced reports about these programs by the Daily Mail, the Daily Caller News Foundation and other outlets.

The White House also detailed spending initiatives that launched during Trump’s previous administration, including a 2017-2019, $6 million agreement that it said was intended to “fund tourism” in Egypt.

MUSK’S DOGE TAKES AIM AT ‘VIPER’S NEST’ FEDERAL AGENCY WITH GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

USAID humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela is displayed for the media at a warehouse next to the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

However, the link referencing the Egyptian program detailed how it was intended to build on previous investments in North Sinai that provided potable water and wastewater services to hundreds of thousands of people and would provide further “access to transportation for rural communities and economic livelihood programming for families.”

The White House also outlined USAID’s funding for coronavirus research, including millions of taxpayer dollars supplied to EcoHealth Alliance for coronavirus research, support for contraceptive initiatives and programs that it said benefited terrorists in several countries.

The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.

“The president made me the acting administrator,” he told Fox News. “I’ve delegated that power to someone who is there full-time, and we’re going to go through the same process at USAID as we’re going through now at the State Department.”

Employees and supporters gather to protest outside the U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Questions remain over whether the White House has the legal authority to dismantle an independent agency, and Democratic lawmakers on Monday joined agency employees who stood outside the headquarters protesting the shutdown despite having been told to remain at home.

Rubio took issue with the protests and referred to them as “rank insubordination.”

“The goal was to reform it, but now we have rank insubordination,” he said. “Now we have basically an active effort — their basic attitude is, ‘We don’t work for anyone. We work for ourselves. No agency of government can tell us what to do.’”

February 4, 2025
Elon Musk dunks on Sen. Chuck Schumer, declaring ‘Hysterical reactions’ demonstrate DOGE’s importance

Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump tasked with spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort, declared in a social media post that “Hysterical reactions” demonstrate the importance of DOGE’s work.

He made the comment in response to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” a post on Sen. Schumer’s @SenSchumer X account reads, echoing remarks the lawmaker made during a press conference.

RUBIO SAYS ‘NO CHOICE’ BUT TO BRING USAID ‘UNDER CONTROL’ AFTER AGENCY TAKEOVER: ‘RANK INSUBORDINATION’

Left: Elon Musk arrives to speak during an inauguration event at Capital One Arena on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States; Right: U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference following the weekly Senate Democrats policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Left: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images; Right: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“DOGE is not a real government agency. DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions. DOGE has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore federal law. DOGE’s conduct cannot be allowed to stand. Congress must take action to restore the rule of law,” Schumer’s post continued.

Musk described the effort to slash government waste and bureaucracy as a one-time opportunity.

“Hysterical reactions like this is how you know that @DOGE is doing work that really matters,” he wrote in response to Schumer.

“This is the one shot the American people have to defeat BUREAUcracy, rule of the bureaucrats, and restore DEMOcracy, rule of the people. We’re never going to get another chance like this. It’s now or never. Your support is crucial to the success of the revolution of the people,” he asserted.

USAID CLOSES HQ TO STAFFERS MONDAY AS MUSK SAYS TRUMP SUPPORTS SHUTTING AGENCY DOWN

The business magnate has called DOGE “the wood chipper for bureaucracy.”

“If the Treasury Secretary does not remove DOGE’s access to the Treasury payment systems at once: Congress must immediately act,” another post echoing the sentiments Schumer conveyed during the press conference reads. “That is why @RepJeffries and I will work together on legislation to stop unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department’s payment systems. We must protect people’s Social Security payments, Medicare payments, and tax refunds from any possible tampering by DOGE or other unauthorized entities.”

MUSK RIPS ‘FRAUDULENT’ TREASURY HANDOUTS AS REPORTS MOUNT DOGE HAS ACCESS TO FEDERAL PAYMENT SYSTEM

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Musk declared a tweet, “Doge has not looked at, nor is there any interest in, private financial data. What would we even do with it? The outgoing payment review process just looks at potential fraud and wasteful spending to organizations. Corrupt politicians are the ones complaining. I wonder why?”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 4, 2025