Marco Rubio takes over USAID after Elon Musk says the department has 'got to go'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he has become the acting director of the United States Agency for International Development after DOGE found questionable spending at the government organization.

USAID has been charged with spending taxpayer money for foreign development and civil aid across the globe. Musk said that the more DOGE looked into the organization, the more it found spending on anti-American programs that were previously hidden.

'As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have, actually, just a ball of worms. It's hopeless.'

On Monday, Rubio announced that he had taken control of the department. He said that he had been frustrated with the organization during his time in the Senate.

"I'm the acting director of USAID," Rubio said to reporters.

"Every dollar we spend will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that they're a global charity," he went on to explain.

"These are not donor dollars; these are taxpayer dollars," he added. "We owe the American people assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest."

Musk, who has been tapped to head the Department of Government Efficiency, claimed in comments on social media that USAID had a far worse problem than the proverbial "worm in the apple."

"As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have, actually, just a ball of worms," he said. "It's hopeless. USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you just gotta basically get rid of the whole thing."

After beginning to dismantle the organization, Musk derided the employees seeking help from politicians.

"And the worms are crawling to their pet politicians to save them," he said on social media.

USAID was founded by John F. Kennedy in 1961 and has an annual budget of $50 billion and more than 10,000 employees.

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