
Trump said that Elon has got access "only to letting people go that he thinks are no good if we agree with him, and it's only if we agree with him"
Elon Musk can't do, won't do anything without our approval, says Trump amid USAID closure
his remark comes as concerns are rising over Musk’s department access to the government's payment system and after the billionaire shut down USAID
Donald Trump said on Tuesday that tech billionaire Elon Musk can’t do, won’t do’ anything without approval amid the bitter row over the latter’s access to the US government’s payment system and his growing political influence.
“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval. And we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, and where not appropriate, we won’t; where we think there’s a conflict, we won’t let him go near it," Trump said.
Talking to reporters at the White House, Trump said Musk reports to him and needs approval for decisions. This remark comes as concerns are rising over Musk’s department of government efficiency (DOGE)’s access to the government's payment system and after the billionaire shut down USAID.
Sweeping cuts
Musk has been criticized for making sweeping cuts to the US bureaucracy, as part of his new position as the head of the DOGE and for more recently, closing down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Trump said that Elon has got access "only to letting people go that he thinks are no good if we agree with him, and it's only if we agree with him".
However, according to Trump, Musk’s department is finding a tremendous amount of waste, “really more waste than anything else I think you could say”. He said that probably fraud and abuse can be added to that. “But they are finding tremendous amounts of really bad things, bad spending," Trump pointed out.
Hillary Clinton called out Musk on Monday morning, calling him an “unelected oligarch” who has access to “your Social Security number.”
USAID shuts down
On February 3, the USAID headquarters was shut down, and staff were told to stay back in their homes. The agency, which provides humanitarian and security assistance worldwide, was shut down fter the SpaceX chief said that he planned to dismantle it.
Describing the USAID’s work as “politically partisan”, he said that they had to get rid of the whole thing.
Further, Musk said that he actually checked with Trump and said he supported his move. Trump had criticised the agency earlier saying it was run by a "bunch of radical lunatics".
“Yes, so we're shutting it down," he said.
This decision has drawn the ire of Democratic senators, who wrote to secretary of state Marco Rubio, saying any change to USAID "must be previewed, discussed, and approved by Congress."
On his first day in office, Trump had already frozen foreign aid stating that his administration will review spending in line with his "America First" policy.
Next Story