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USAID security officials on leave after refusing access to Musk allies
The Washington Post ^ | February 2, 2025 | John Hudson, Ellen Nakashima and Mariana Alfaro

Posted on 02/02/2025 11:31:05 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

The Trump administration has removed two top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development after they refused to let representatives of Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” access restricted spaces at the agency, said current and former USAID officials.

The placement of the security officials — John Voorhees and his deputy — on administrative leave is the latest effort by the Trump administration and Musk to wrest control of the world’s largest provider of food assistance, which they have denigrated, without offering evidence, as left-wing and corrupt amid objections from Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

Amid the turmoil at the agency, Matt Hopson, the USAID chief of staff and a political appointee, resigned, according to a current and former USAID official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation. Hopson did not respond to requests for comment.

On Sunday, Musk repeatedly attacked USAID on X, calling the long-standing government agency “evil” and a “viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.”

“USAID is a criminal organization,” he added. “Time for it to die.”

By Sunday afternoon, USAID’s X account had been taken down, with a message saying the account “doesn’t exist.”

President Donald Trump named Musk, the world’s richest man, as the head of DOGE, a new government office that was initially promised to comb through the whole federal bureaucracy searching for deep cuts. In the days since Trump took office, Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration, which manages real estate.

DOGE is now housed in a White House office formerly known as the U.S. Digital Service but now...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: corruption; fiduciarymalfeasance; fiduciarymisconduct; misappropriation; misconduct; usaid
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Heh.
1 posted on 02/02/2025 11:31:05 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

CIA - WP propaganda is less effective when paywalled.


2 posted on 02/02/2025 11:35:41 AM PST by takebackaustin
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
hmmm..
I believe this is an Executive Branch agency. If that is true, then they serve at the pleasure of the President and they appear to have forgot who they work for.
3 posted on 02/02/2025 11:36:30 AM PST by TxAg1981
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To: TxAg1981

Well, it is a cabinet-level agency under the Dept of State. So, Marco Rubio is their boss.


4 posted on 02/02/2025 11:37:59 AM PST by TxAg1981
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

You can practically hear the sneer dripping off the lips of the author of this article. DEI helicopter rides for all of them.


5 posted on 02/02/2025 11:39:39 AM PST by Noumenon (You can evade reality, but you cannot evade the consequences of evading reality. KTF)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

6 posted on 02/02/2025 11:44:40 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Noumenon

“of the world’s largest provider of food assistance,” Of course that includes condoms for Hamas. Nonsense.


7 posted on 02/02/2025 11:45:56 AM PST by Fungi
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If they can’t be fired outright, they need to be assigned to the new USAID office in Shemya, Aleutian Islands, Alaska.


8 posted on 02/02/2025 11:46:49 AM PST by bill andersen
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To: Noumenon

“DEI helicopter rides for all of them.”

Just keep them away from populated areas and other aircraft. Innocent people don’t deserve to die because of wokeness.


9 posted on 02/02/2025 11:47:02 AM PST by chuckb87
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To: bill andersen

Open an office on Midway.


10 posted on 02/02/2025 11:51:31 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

People in charge with nothing to hide: “Come in! Let us show you how we accomplish our mission.”

Crooks in charge… bar the door.


11 posted on 02/02/2025 11:52:19 AM PST by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Gee, no bias in this article.

Then the trash merchants wonder why bankruptcy looms.


12 posted on 02/02/2025 11:53:14 AM PST by AAABEST (That time Washington DC became a corrupted, existential threat to us all...)
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To: TxAg1981

Yep

Correct


13 posted on 02/02/2025 12:13:44 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I worry that so many of these people placed on leave still have methods to do damage remotely from home. I guess Musk is smart enough to cut off any way for them to tunnel in or gain access in any way.


14 posted on 02/02/2025 12:16:03 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino and)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
https://www.usaid.gov/

Took the site down too. Lots of posts on how corrupt this dept was and how it funded NGOs which in turn funded "our democracy" aka dems.

USAID helped fund Eco Health Alliance so they basically helped fund COVID

Speaking of "democracy", Elon's been looking into the NED today too, the outfit that does regime change and color revolutions. NED is very tied in with NATO. I think he's going to try and go after the NED.

So much winning

Don't know if he saw my post when he requested info on NED but I posted how; Congress funds NED who partially funds the IRI which has congress critters as board members. Conflict of interest?

https://www.ned.org/national-endowment-for-democracy-ned-ndi-iri-cipe-and-solidarity-center-welcome-increased-funding-from-congress/

https://www.iri.org/who-we-are/#h-board-of-directors (repub globalist war club chaired by McCain for 25 years)

15 posted on 02/02/2025 12:22:08 PM PST by Pollard (Zone 6b)
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To: TxAg1981

They also forgot who’s paying the bills.

WE ARE!!


16 posted on 02/02/2025 12:25:36 PM PST by RandallFlagg (Democrats should have been barred from elections since The Battle Of Athens.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Amazing timeline — https://x.com/elonmusk

Trump saw what he did with Twitter and said hey, can you do that with fedgov? Trump’s also probably been watching Javier Milei


17 posted on 02/02/2025 12:29:52 PM PST by Pollard (Zone 6b)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Imagine being your garden-variety, federal bureaucrat getting a knock on your door—and seeing Elon when you open it.


18 posted on 02/02/2025 12:33:52 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Why does a foreign charity operation run by the government have a restricted access section?!


19 posted on 02/02/2025 12:41:53 PM PST by Skywise
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To: Noumenon
You can practically hear the sneer dripping off the lips of the author of this article. DEI helicopter rides for all of them.

There's an idea. Assign DEI pilots to all Biden holdovers in the Executive Branch. Order them to attend as many meetings as possible requiring those pilots until they resign.
20 posted on 02/02/2025 12:49:37 PM PST by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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