We’ve seen the USAID implode over the last few days as Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) crew began exposing a lot of issues and questions at the agency, and USAID tried to keep the DOGE folks out of their building.
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Then, the left began whipping up hate against the DOGE crew. The DOGE folks were identified by WIRED magazine. Then, they were threatened publicly on social media, with people calling for them to be “hunted.” The acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, said he would not tolerate threats to the DOGE people, and Martin later said he had contacted the FBI to look into the possible crimes and “prosecutors were preparing.”
READ MORE: US Attorney Issues Warning As DOGE Workers Face Threats After Media IDs Them
Martin might want to check into something else as well that I would think should concern everyone.
Elon Musk and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who is one of the senators connected to helping with DOGE, were part of a Spaces discussion on X Sunday evening. During that discussion, Ernst disclosed the problems that she had when she started looking into USAID as part of her congressional oversight responsibility. She was specifically looking into what they were doing with “humanitarian efforts” with the money in Ukraine when she says she was threatened.
Elon Musk on USAID threatening Senator Joni Ernst: “It’s outrageous that a taxpayer-funded organization would threaten a U.S. Senator who is simply trying to figure out if American taxpayer money is being spent correctly and not fraudulently.”
pic.twitter.com/zWoSgOeWmL— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) February 3, 2025
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“I wanted to know exactly how those dollars were being spent,” Ernst said.
“We got all kinds of threats from USAID,” she continued. “Because I was trying to exercise my oversight capacity in Congress.”
“It’s just shocking,” Elon replied. “It’s outrageous that a taxpayer-funded organization would threaten a U.S. senator who is simply trying to figure out if American taxpayer money is being spent correctly and not fraudulently.”
You can say that again. And it raises a lot of questions about why they were reacting like that and what they didn’t want her to know. What was she getting close to? Elon is right, it’s shameful and unacceptable if she was threatened.
But imagine the power they believe they have if they think they can threaten a senator. Sounds like this is one more thing that needs to be investigated by U.S. Attorney Martin. All of this has to stop. This obviously has desperately needed oversight for a long time.
Ernst also posted an interesting thread about some of the bad things they’ve found so far. You can check out the thread here.
🧵From funneling tax dollars to risky research in Wuhan to sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, USAID is one of the worst offenders of waste in Washington… all around the world. 🌎
This is why @POTUS, @DOGE, and @elonmusk are ending the nonsense. 👇
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) February 3, 2025
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READ MORE: BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio Announces He Has Taken Over As ‘Acting Director’ of USAID
Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken over as “acting director” of USAID, so they are going to be able to walk through it with a fine tooth comb.
