The U.S. Agency for International Development is on the cusp of being shuttered, according the Trump administrationās billionaire adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk ā who has been wrestling for control of the agency in recent days.
Early Monday, Musk held a live session on X Spaces, previously known as Twitter Spaces, and said that he spoke in detail about USAID with the president. āHe agreed we should shut it down,ā Musk said.

āIt became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in,ā Musk said. āWhat we have is just a ball of worms. Youāve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. Itās beyond repair.ā āWeāre shutting it down.ā
His comments come after the administration placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Muskās government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Members of Muskās Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agencyās classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said.
Muskās DOGE crew lacked high enough security clearance to access that information, so the two USAID security officials ā John Voorhees and deputy Brian McGill ā believed themselves legally obligated to deny access.
The current and former U.S. officials had knowledge of the incident and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information.
Musk on Sunday responded to an X post about the news by saying, āUSAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.ā He followed with additional posts on X about the aid agency.
Kate Miller, who serves on an advisory board for DOGE, said in a separate post that no classified material was accessed āwithout proper security clearances.ā
It comes a day after DOGE carried out a similar operation at the Treasury Department, gaining access to sensitive information including the Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems. The Washington Post reported that a senior Treasury official had resigned over Muskās team accessing sensitive information.
Musk formed DOGE in cooperation with the Trump administration with the stated goal of finding ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations.
USAID, whose website vanished Saturday without explanation, has been one of the federal agencies most targeted by the Trump administration in an escalating crackdown on the federal government and many of its programs.
āItās been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And weāre getting them out,ā Trump said to reporters about USAID on Sunday night.
The Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have imposed an unprecedented freeze on foreign assistance that has shut down much of USAIDās humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide ā compelling thousands of layoffs by aid organizations ā and ordered furloughs and leaves that have gutted the agencyās leadership and staff in Washington.
The U.S. is by far the worldās largest donor of humanitarian aid, with USAID administering billions of dollars in humanitarian, development and security assistance in more than 100 countries.
Peter Marocco, a returning political appointee from Trumpās first term, was a leader in enforcing the shutdown. USAID staffers say they believe that agency outsiders with visitors badges asking questions of employees inside the Washington headquarters are members of Muskās DOGE team.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a post on Sunday that Trump was allowing Musk to access peopleās personal information and shut down government funding.
āWe must do everything in our power to push back and protect people from harm,ā the Massachusetts senator said, without giving details.