Trump says he’s opposed 'many' of Musk’s ideas, but praises effort to shut down USAID
Amid questions about Elon Musk's role, President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters he's opposed "many" of the billionaire ideas to slash government spending, but praised his moves to shut down USAID, the international aid agency, and defended Musk's reportedly youthful "Department of Government Efficiency" aides.
When asked how often he is speaking to Musk and if he had ever proposed an idea that went too far, Trump responded, "well, many ideas, but look, he's done a great job."
"Look at all the fraud that he's found in this USAID. It's a disaster," he continued, blaming what he called "radical left lunatics" for money "going to all sorts of groups that shouldn't deserve to get any money."
"I'd like to see what the kickbacks are. How much money has been kicked back? Who would spend that kind of money to some of the things that you read about," Trump added, without citing any evidence.
When a reporter noted it sounds as if he is winding down USAID, Trump said, "sounds like it. I mean, I think so."
Musk has called the agency "hopeless," and said he was "in the process" of "shutting [it] down" -- something he said Trump supports.
"We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper," Musk wrote on X on Monday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Musk's unprecedented role in the government, telling reporters Tuesday morning that "the American people elected President Trump to do exactly what Elon Musk is helping President Trump do, and when it comes to USAID, Elon Musk and his team have found egregious spending of federal tax dollars being wasted."
But, in saying the State Department would take over USAID functions if it winds down, Trump added that some USAID spending is worthwhile.
"Well, I guess Rubio being in charge -- State Department because they're giving money to -- I mean, some of the money is well spent, I guess?" Trump said, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "But much of it is really fraudulent."
On Monday, Rubio was named acting administrator of USAID, and he notified Congress that a "review of USAID's foreign assistance activities is underway with an eye towards potential reorganization."
Trump also pushed back on criticism against the qualifications of some of Musk's team. "Some of these DOGE engineers that Elon Musk has helping him are as young as 19 years," Trump noted, saying, "that's good."
"Some are young and some are not young. Some are not young at all. But they found great things," he said.
"No, I haven't seen them," Trump said when asked if he's met Musk's aides. "They work, actually, out of the White House. They're smart people, unlike what they do in the control towers, where we need smart people. We should use some of them in the control towers, where we were putting people that were actually intellectually deficient."
Musk's team is staffed largely by engineers and young people with little or no experience in government, with at least one reportedly as young as 19 years old.
