Elon Musk Targets Closure of US Humanitarian Aid Agency 

The USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
The USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Elon Musk Targets Closure of US Humanitarian Aid Agency 

The USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
The USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)

The Trump administration said it would lock US Agency for International Development workers out of their headquarters in downtown Washington DC for a second day on Tuesday as it moved to shutter the agency, prompting two Democratic senators to vow to block confirmations of State Department nominees in protest.

Monday's lockout added to the chaos that has consumed the agency, which distributes billions of dollars of humanitarian aid around the world, since Trump ordered a freeze on most US foreign aid hours after taking office on Jan. 20.

USAID has been targeted for closure by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked by the president with downsizing the federal government. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump was considering merging USAID into the State Department and had "entrusted Elon to oversee the efficiency of this agency."

A group of Democratic lawmakers, cheered by dozens of furloughed agency employees and contractors, held a protest in front of the USAID headquarters, which was shut to the employees on Monday, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

Another internal email seen by Reuters went out late on Monday, telling employees at the agency's headquarters and a second site in Washington to work remotely again on Tuesday, adding to concerns voiced by staff members and lawmakers.

"We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk," said US Representative Jamie Raskin, speaking outside the building.

Senators Brian Schatz and Chris Van Hollen said they would block confirmation of Trump's nominees for State Department positions under rules that allow them to hold up nominations even if the Republican majority of the chamber want them to move forward.

"We have control over the calendar for nominees," said Van Hollen. "We will do everything we can to block State Department nominees from going forward until this illegal action is reversed."

'AGAINST THE LAW'

Hundreds of USAID programs covering billions of dollars worth of lifesaving aid across the globe came to a grinding halt after Trump on Jan. 20 ordered a freeze of most US foreign aid, saying he wanted to ensure it is aligned with his "America First" policy.

If USAID were put under the State Department, it would likely have dramatic consequences for the distribution of aid from the United States, the world's largest single donor.

Musk has been increasingly critical of USAID, calling it a left-wing agency unaccountable to the White House. Musk critics say his accusations are often lodged without evidence and may be ideologically driven.

The rush of events has underlined Musk's powerful role in setting Trump's agenda. Last week, Musk's team at the Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the most sensitive payment systems at Treasury and, as Reuters reported, locked some employees out of their agency's computers.

At USAID, two senior security staff were put on leave after refusing to provide classified documents to DOGE employees on site over the weekend.

"What's happening to USAID is against the law," Schatz told Reuters outside the agency headquarters. "It's flatly illegal, and it is dangerous to Americans at home and abroad."

Some USAID staff waved signs as the lawmakers spoke, including one that read: "USAID saves lives."

Democrats have argued that eliminating USAID's independence requires an act of Congress. Trump told reporters on Monday that he did not believe that was necessary.

"I love the concept (of USAID), but they turned out to be radical left lunatics," Trump said.

RUBIO BECOMES ACTING USAID HEAD

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in San Salvador that he was now the acting head of USAID, calling the agency "completely unresponsive" and accusing the staff there of being "unwilling to answer simple questions" about programs.

"If you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases, USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue," Rubio said.

He informed Congress in a letter of the looming reorganization of the agency, saying some parts of USAID might be absorbed by the State Department and the remainder may be abolished.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, said she found Rubio's notification "wholly insufficient on the law and devoid of any rationale for the drastic, abrupt action the administration has taken, with no prior notice to Congress."

In fiscal year 2023, the United States disbursed, partly via USAID, $72 billion of aid worldwide on everything from women's health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work. It provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.

And yet it is less than 1% of its total budget.

The State Department issued worldwide stop-work directives after Trump's freeze order, with the exception of emergency food assistance. Experts warned that the move risks killing people.

Since then, dozens of USAID career staff have been put on leave. Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that USAID personal services contractors, who carry out the bulk of the work in the agency's humanitarian bureau, have also been locked out of their government accounts.

"Without PSCs, there is no longer functionally a Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance in USAID. The waivers from Secretary of State Rubio for emergency food and other urgent assistance are a smokescreen and farce if there is no one to make the awards happen," a USAID official said.



US Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate Thousands of Fired Workers

US President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
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US Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate Thousands of Fired Workers

US President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 13 March 2025. (EPA)

A California federal judge on Thursday ordered six US agencies to reinstate thousands of recently-hired employees who lost their jobs as part of President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce.

The ruling by US District Judge William Alsup during a hearing in San Francisco is the most significant blow yet to the effort by Trump and top adviser Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. Government agencies are facing a Thursday deadline to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets.

Alsup's ruling applies to probationary employees at the US Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department.

The judge said the US Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for federal agencies, had improperly ordered those agencies to fire workers en masse even though it lacked the power to do so.

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” said Alsup, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees. They have fewer job protections than other government workers but in general can only be fired for performance issues.

Alsup ordered the agencies to reinstate workers who were fired over the last few weeks, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by unions, nonprofit groups, and the state of Washington.

He did not order the 16 other agencies named in the lawsuit to reinstate workers, but said he would promptly issue a written decision that could expand on Thursday's ruling.

A Veterans Affairs spokesperson declined to comment. A Department of Interior spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on litigation over personnel matters.

The White House and the other agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 federal workers. The union's president, Everett Kelley, in a statement said the decision was an important victory against "an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public."

25,000 WORKERS

Alsup last month had temporarily blocked OPM from ordering agencies to fire probationary employees, but declined at the time to require that fired workers get their jobs back. The plaintiffs subsequently amended their lawsuit to include the agencies that fired probationary workers.

About 25,000 workers across the US government had been fired as of March 5, according to a Reuters tally, and another 75,000 have taken a buyout. The Trump administration has not released statistics on the firings, and it was not immediately clear how many employees could be affected by Thursday's decision.

In the lawsuit before Alsup, the plaintiffs claim the mass firings were unlawful because they were ordered by OPM rather than left to the discretion of individual agencies.

OPM has maintained that it merely asked agencies in a January 20 memo to identify probationary workers and decide which ones were not "mission critical" and could be fired, and did not order them to terminate anyone.

The agency on March 4 revised that memo, adding that it was not directing agencies to take any specific actions with respect to probationary employees.

OPM has pointed to the updated memo and to press releases by agencies as proof that it had no control over agencies' decisions.

Alsup on Thursday told the US Department of Justice lawyer representing OPM, Kelsey Helland, that he did not believe that was true, and scolded the government for not presenting OPM's acting director, Charles Ezell, to testify at the hearing.

“I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years and I know how we get at the truth, and you’re not helping me get at the truth. You’re giving me press releases, sham documents,” Alsup said.

Helland said it was common for presidential administrations to prevent high-ranking agency officials from testifying in court, and that the information provided by OPM in court filings was enough to prove that it never ordered agencies to terminate workers.

Along with the lawsuit in California, several other challenges to the mass firings have been filed, including cases by 20 Democrat-led states and a proposed class action by a group of fired workers.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, which reviews federal employees' appeals when they are fired, earlier this month ordered the Agriculture Department to reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary workers at least temporarily.