Elon Musk attacked the US Agency for International Development, calling it a "criminal organization" on Sunday, as President Donald Trump claimed the agency was "run by radical lunatics" and said he was considering its future.
The assault on the agency tasked with humanitarian relief overseas marks a significant new front in Trump's move to give unprecedented power to Musk to upend government departments and counter what the pair consider wasteful official spending and overreach.
"USAID is a criminal organization," Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX who has become the president's most powerful backer, wrote on his X platform, replying to a video alleging USAID involvement in "rogue CIA work."
In a subsequent post, Musk doubled down and, without giving evidence, asked his 215 million X followers, "Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including Covid-19, that killed millions of people?"
He did not elaborate on the allegations, which officials in the previous administration linked to a Russian disinformation campaign.
USAID has "been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out... and then we'll make a decision (on its future)," Trump said Sunday without elaborating.
He underscored his support for the billionaire, telling reporters Sunday night he felt Musk was "doing a good job."
Trump initially froze all aid spending for three months. Though he subsequently issued waivers for food and other humanitarian aid to continue, aid workers say uncertainty reigns with the future of the organization as an independent agency far from assured.
USAID, an independent agency established by an act of Congress, manages a budget of $42.8 billion meant for humanitarian relief and development assistance around the world.
A senior official from a US-based organization feared the prioritization of "emergency" assistance was part of a broader plan in which Washington would discontinue funds for anything else.
There have been reports Trump wants to roll USAID into the State Department. His team did not respond to AFP's calls for comment.
During a talk hosted on his X platform at midnight Washington time (0500 GMT Monday), Musk said Trump "agreed that we should shut it (USAID) down."
'Unelected billionaire'
The X session -- attended by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and two Republican senators -- was on Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with slashing federal spending.
Without providing details, Musk said "tremendous progress" had been made.
"If we can get that deficit in half, from two trillion (dollars) to half, and we can get the economic growth to match... that means there will be no inflation," Musk said, adding he would be focusing on "fraud and waste."
DOGE was founded as part of the so-called "executive office of the president," as a temporary 18-month organization under the repurposed United States Digital Service.
It does not enjoy full status as a government department, which would require Congress's approval, and Musk is neither federal employee nor a government official. It is unclear to whom DOGE is accountable.
CNN reported that two senior security officials at USAID were put on forced leave after they barred staff from Musk's DOGE from accessing classified documents.
PBS also reported DOGE staff attempted to gain access to "secure spaces."
Trump's senior aide Steven Cheung posted on X that the PBS report was "not even remotely true at all."
USAID's account on X had been disabled, AFP confirmed, and its website was still offline.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has criticized the "total destruction" of the agency.
"The people elected Donald Trump to be President -- not Elon Musk," Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.
"Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding US classified information is a grave threat to national security."
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