“Comments from Elon Musk have been particularly reduced, calling us a “criminal organisation” that we “need to die,” said a USAID staff member.
“It comes from the wealthiest man on the planet, and it feels pretty grotesque,” said a staff member who was on administrative leave along with many other colleagues.
“I see foreign service personnel who served most of their overseas, seeing the sacrifices they made,” they said. “It’s rude to be dragged into the mud like this.”
The USAID upheaval raised concerns from Democrats and experts about whether Trump and Musk’s actions were legal.
In that face, Trump and Musk’s efforts to close USAID are “not legal because they violate what Congress has previously explicitly done,” says John Rogowski, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. said John Logowski, who studies the separation of power. US government.
Congress has established USAID as an independent body, with the legislative department providing funds.
However, as head of a federal agency, Trump has the authority to place certain USAID functions under the control of the State Department, according to George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Brookings facility and former assistant assistant assistant administrator of the USAID.
One such move would be to appoint Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the representative of USAID when government agencies have functioned independently of the State Department in the past while following foreign policy guidance. was included.
And it appears that influential Republicans in Congress are ready to work with the administration to allow some change.
Sen. James Rich, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said:
Musk has no authority to close or rebuild USAID, but the agency would not have been dismantled quickly and thoroughly without his influence.
“We can’t imagine a precedent for the presidential administration to essentially hand over the reins to the private citizens and control and control the administrative sectors they think are appropriate,” Rogowski said.
In a statement to the BBC, White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said Musk “serves President Trump’s administration selflessly as a special government employee, and he has abide by all applicable federal laws. “It’s.”
