Thread by @RenzTom

🧵🧵 USAID - Lawyer’s Perspective on @elonmusk & @realDonaldTrump Taking On Govt Waste

After digging into the real truth about DOGE (see the link to my other thread below) I decided that I should absolutely dig into the truth about the “shut down” of USAID. Just like the lies about DOGE - neither Trump nor Musk has not actually shut down USAID and they are currently just exposing the waste they have found. While I really cannot see a way to save something so corrupt, they have not actually even formalized their long-term plans for USAID yet.

Everything you are hearing from the left and the press is simply propaganda from people mad that their grift has been exposed and shut down. @GenFlynn @VigilantFox

As you can see in the announcement above, USAID has put everyone except “designated personnel responsible for mission critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” on administrative leave. This means the agency still exists and is still carrying out mission critical functions. So why all the screaming and crying from the Democrats and the left? Because Trump and DOGE do not believe that funding corrupt programs used to pad the pockets of corrupt political figures or other programs that do nothing to benefit America are actually mission critical. This means that those programs will likely not be continuing after the pause. Below are a few examples of such programs.

So USAID has not been eliminated and the idea that is has been is a lie. To further demonstrate this, you should recognize that the President likely does not actually have the authority to eliminate USAID entirely.

A number of people have correctly noted that USAID was created by an EO but they then mistakenly think that means Trump can end it by altering that order. That might be true except for the fact that USAID was eventually recognized under statutory law (this happened in 22 USCS § 6563 and other statutory references exist as well). Once an administrative agency has been created by statute it is unlikely the President would have unilateral authority to eliminate it… but again - Trump was very clever and did not eliminate USAID.

So what did Trump do? Well a couple of things. The first is that Trump issued the EO below putting a 90 day hold on all foreign aid. During this period each of the foreign aid programs are to be evaluated to determine if they are aligned with the foreign policy of the President. Importantly, this evaluation and additional authority are given to the Secretary of State to ensure the evaluations are properly carried out. Obviously DOGE is involved in assisting the SoS as the DOGE order puts DOGE teams in all government agencies.

This order was brilliant because under the Constitution, the President gets to set foreign policy and thus would have substantial control over foreign funding. This position is supported by numerous statutes and judicial decisions. So ultimately the President clearly has authority to evaluate these programs and create a temporary pause in spending. This also ties in to two other critical points.

The first is that the President successfully merged the State Department and USAID without actually changing their structure legally. He did this by very cleverly appointing SoS Marco Rubio to also be the administrator for USAID. This means that Trump did not have to make any changes to the statutory structure or position of USAID but that it was still ran under the authority of the SoS. Congress literally has nothing to complain about here.

The second is the importance of the pause being temporary. While the President does have substantial authority over all things foreign policy, it would be arguable that money that is earmarked to be sent off on some of these programs is beyond the President’s authority to reign back in. Instead of risking this fight, Trump wisely created a temporary pause which would almost certainly be legally within his authority.

This gets even better when you look at what happens during that 90 day pause. Remember the continuing spending resolution in Congress? Well a new spending bill will have to be passed during the 90 day period and that bill will be in front of an entirely Republican Congress so these guys should absolutely include language that eliminates USAID.

Oh - and if RINOs concern you - that is where Elon Musk and X come in. Musk and DOGE have not stopped reporting about wasteful spending from USAID and it is perpetually viral on X. With this much awareness, any Republican that does not stand up for eliminating USAID (or at least remaking it better) will be as good a gone next election cycle.

So this whole thing is a nonsense. Trump and Musk did not shut down USAID. Trump simply paused spending and Musk/DOGE looked into what was happening there and exposed it. Now that people know the truth the Dems and leftists know that their gravy train is politically dead. The real kicking and screaming has nothing to do with the legality of what Trump and Musk are doing - it is absolutely all legal - rather, it is about the exposure and political push to end wasteful government spending.

One last note. The CRS (which is supposed to be providing neutral research for Congress) was asked to put together a report on this topic. The report was titled USAID Under the Trump Administration and was anything but neutral. In fact it looks like it was written specifically for the press and is certainly not a neutral evaluation of the situation. Perhaps not surprising, the Hill then immediately picked this up and spun it to promote the idea that Trump is trying to shut down USAID and that his actions are illegal. Based on this post you can see that such an assertion is an outright lie.

BTW - It may be worth noting that the “independent researcher” from CRS (Emily McCabe) has been actively involved with USAID and lists Bill Gates as one of her “top voices”.

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