Musk Charges USAID With ‘covering up corruption’
The White House has allegedly put two USAID security officials on leave for preventing DOGE inspectors from accessing intelligence reports. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
The agency has attempted to obstruct an audit by US President Donald Trump’s DOGE.
Two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have reportedly been placed on leave by President Donald Trump’s administration following their efforts to halt an audit conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
According to an Associated Press report, a team of DOGE inspectors aimed to examine “classified material in restricted areas” at USAID on Saturday but were stopped by security personnel. The inspectors reportedly did not have the required security clearance, leading USAID security to state they were “legally obligated” to deny access to the requested information.
Musk addressed the situation on X, stating, “No, they tried to lie to cover up their corruption,” rejecting claims about the team lacking security clearance. Katie Miller, a member of the DOGE advisory board, echoed this sentiment, affirming that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Eventually, the inspectors were granted access to the materials they sought, which included personnel records and “intelligence reports,” as noted by the AP. The USAID officials involved, identified as John Vorhees and his deputy Brian McGill, were subsequently placed on leave.
The DOGE has not yet released specifics regarding its review of USAID's activities, but Musk launched a series of pointed critiques against the agency over the weekend. He declared, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” accusing the agency of “paying media organizations to publish their propaganda,” and alleged that it used US taxpayer dollars to fund “bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people.”
Reports surfaced over the weekend that the official USAID website went offline and its X account was taken down amid speculation that the White House is considering merging the agency into the Department of State.
The DOGE was established by Trump as a presidential advisory commission aimed at reducing government expenditure, with a target to cut at least $1 trillion in federal spending by July 2026. In late January, the DOGE announced that it had already achieved a reduction in federal spending by $1 billion per day, attributing savings of over $1 billion to the elimination of contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Additionally, Musk’s department has reportedly been granted full access to the US Treasury Department’s payment system, which is considered sensitive and had previously been restricted to a select group of career civil servants.
Navid Kalantari contributed to this report for TROIB News
Two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have reportedly been placed on leave by President Donald Trump’s administration following their efforts to halt an audit conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
According to an Associated Press report, a team of DOGE inspectors aimed to examine “classified material in restricted areas” at USAID on Saturday but were stopped by security personnel. The inspectors reportedly did not have the required security clearance, leading USAID security to state they were “legally obligated” to deny access to the requested information.
Musk addressed the situation on X, stating, “No, they tried to lie to cover up their corruption,” rejecting claims about the team lacking security clearance. Katie Miller, a member of the DOGE advisory board, echoed this sentiment, affirming that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Eventually, the inspectors were granted access to the materials they sought, which included personnel records and “intelligence reports,” as noted by the AP. The USAID officials involved, identified as John Vorhees and his deputy Brian McGill, were subsequently placed on leave.
The DOGE has not yet released specifics regarding its review of USAID's activities, but Musk launched a series of pointed critiques against the agency over the weekend. He declared, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” accusing the agency of “paying media organizations to publish their propaganda,” and alleged that it used US taxpayer dollars to fund “bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people.”
Reports surfaced over the weekend that the official USAID website went offline and its X account was taken down amid speculation that the White House is considering merging the agency into the Department of State.
The DOGE was established by Trump as a presidential advisory commission aimed at reducing government expenditure, with a target to cut at least $1 trillion in federal spending by July 2026. In late January, the DOGE announced that it had already achieved a reduction in federal spending by $1 billion per day, attributing savings of over $1 billion to the elimination of contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Additionally, Musk’s department has reportedly been granted full access to the US Treasury Department’s payment system, which is considered sensitive and had previously been restricted to a select group of career civil servants.
Navid Kalantari contributed to this report for TROIB News
