By Sara Cook, Jennifer Jacobs
/ CBS News
What to know about Trump, Musk and USAID
USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, will be merged into the State Department with significant cuts in the workforce, but it will remain a humanitarian aid entity, three U.S. officials told CBS News.
Officials in President Trump’s administration are expected to announce the moves in the coming days. Discussions about the extent of the funding reductions remained fluid on Monday.
Mr. Trump made Secretary of State Marco Rubio the acting administrator of USAID, sources said, and Rubio himself soon confirmed it to reporters traveling with him in El Salvador. ABC News earlier reported his status as chief. Rubio said in a letter to congressional leaders that he has authorized Peter Marocco, director of foreign assistance at State, to perform the duties of deputy administrator of USAID and to begin a “review and potential reorganization of USAID’s activities to maximize efficiency and align operations.”
USAID oversees humanitarian, development and security programs in about 120 countries around the world. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, USAID “provides assistance to strategically important countries and countries in conflict; leads U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, disease, and humanitarian need; and assists U.S. commercial interests by supporting developing countries’ economic growth.”
Foreign aid overall, of which USAID is one part, accounts for less than 1% of the federal budget.
Rubio told reporters that U.S. tax dollars need to further U.S. national interests, and “USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that they’re somehow a global charity.”
The move to merge USAID with the State Department and reduce its funding may raise legal questions, however. USAID was established in 1961 by an act of Congress, so the president would require congressional approval to shut it down. USAID, like most of the rest of the federal government, has been operating under a temporary funding measure that expires in March.
Mr. Trump said Sunday the agency was “run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out.”
USAID headquarters was closed on Monday because of a security incident, sources said, but the incident stemmed from efforts over the weekend by personnel from the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, to access USAID systems.
Sources told CBS News it was related to the USAID chief of staff, Matt Hopson, a recent Trump appointee, who attempted to block DOGE officials from getting access to USAID systems. Two top security officials were fired Monday for attempting to block access to DOGE, according to multiple sources. Hopson resigned Sunday.
Musk, the Trump administration’s billionaire adviser, had said he’d spoken in detail about USAID with Mr. Trump. “He agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said in a late-night live session on his social media platform X.
Not all of Mr. Trump’s top advisers agreed with the idea of shutting down the agency completely, several sources said.
