Elon Musk announces that he and Donald Trump are working together to shut down USAID.

 Musk announced the intended shutdown of the foreign assistance agency early Monday via social media.

Feb. 3, 2025, 12:58 PM GMT+6 / Updated Feb. 3, 2025, 1:21 PM GMT+6

Tech billionaire Elon Musk revealed on Monday that he and President Donald Trump are working together to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ramping up their efforts to challenge the federal bureaucracy and bypass Congress’s authority over government spending.

Musk, who heads Trump’s government efficiency initiative, made the announcement during a late-night audio appearance on his social media platform, X. He declared, “We’re shutting it down,” and later added that they were “in the process” of dismantling USAID.

He did not clarify what legal basis the White House has to close a federal agency without congressional approval or provide a timeline for the shutdown. However, Musk emphasized that the president fully supports the move, stating he had discussed the plan with Trump several times. "I actually checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?’” Musk recalled. Trump’s response was a firm “Yes.”

The White House did not immediately comment on Musk’s announcement. Trump, in a statement on Sunday, praised Musk’s efforts and criticized USAID, calling it "run by a bunch of radical lunatics.” However, he did not explicitly mention plans to shut down the agency without Congress’s consent. Officials within the Trump administration have explored placing USAID under the authority of the State Department, a move that legal experts argue could violate a law passed by Congress when the agency was established.

Trump also announced a freeze on nearly all U.S. foreign assistance, pending a 90-day review. For the 2023 fiscal year, USAID’s budget was around $40 billion, a small fraction of the overall $1.7 trillion in federal discretionary spending. USAID was created by executive order in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy after Congress approved a reorganization of foreign assistance.

Musk’s remarks followed an unusual incident on Saturday in which USAID’s security director and his deputy were put on administrative leave after attempting to block Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees from accessing secure USAID systems. The DOGE staff threatened to involve U.S. Marshals, and although they eventually gained access to the systems, the specifics of what they discovered remain unclear.

Last week, it became evident that Musk and the Trump administration were planning a major overhaul of USAID, one of several federal agencies undergoing significant disruption. Over 50 USAID career employees were placed on administrative leave last Monday. USAID and Musk’s company, SpaceX, have had past collaborations, including providing Starlink satellite internet terminals to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in 2022.

On Monday, Musk described USAID as “beyond repair” and “hopeless,” likening it to “a ball of worms.” He also posted on X, stating, “Spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could’ve gone to some great parties. Did that instead.”

Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a vocal critic of federal spending, expressed support for Musk’s assessment, although it remains unclear how widely this sentiment is shared within the Republican-controlled Congress.

The 1974 Impoundment Control Act generally prevents the president from withholding funds that Congress has allocated. Some Trump aides, however, have argued that the law is unconstitutional, hinting at a potential legal challenge.

The late-night event on X was Musk’s first public appearance since he and his team began implementing reforms across federal agencies last week. Musk also outlined plans for more sweeping changes, including the “wholesale removal of regulations,” stating that regulations should “basically be default gone.”

“This is our shot. This is the best hand of cards we’re ever going to have,” Musk said, urging immediate action. “Now or never.”