Congressional Democrats were denied entry to the USAID building on Monday, as federal law enforcement officers blocked the doors, restricting lawmakers’ access to even the public lobby of the agency’s headquarters. This move came after Democrats criticized Elon Musk and members of his DOGE task force for demanding and gaining access to internal government systems despite not being an official government agency. The situation unfolded after Musk announced that President Trump had agreed to shut down the agency, citing its inefficiency and lack of transparency. This came after thousands of USAID employees already have been laid off and programs shut down in the two weeks since President Donald Trump took office. The agency's website vanished Saturday without explanation and more than 600 additional employees reported being locked out of the aid agency's computer systems overnight.
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats were denied entry Monday to the USAID building as federal law enforcement officers blocked the doors, restricting lawmakers’ access to even the public lobby of the agency’s headquarters.
At a stop in El Salvador, Rubio told reporters that USAID was an uncooperative and opaque agency that had failed to answer questions about its funding or operate in line with the Trump administration's policy agenda. Democratic lawmakers have protested the moves, saying Trump lacks constitutional authority to shut down USAID without congressional approval and decrying Musk’s accessing sensitive government-held information through his Trump-sanctioned inspections of federal government agencies and programs.
Musk, who's leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with Trump's agreement, said early Monday that he had spoken with Trump about the six-decade U.S. aid and development agency and “he agreed we should shut it down.”
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