State Department formally shutters USAID after Trump court victory

WASHINGTON — The State Department formally announced Friday it is closing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) after the Trump administration prevailed in a federal court case challenging the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting actions.“Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies.Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago.

As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.Ex-DOGE official Jeremy Lewin announced USAID’s shuttering in an internal memo earlier Friday — and said the State Department “intends to assume responsibility for many” of the agency’s functions and programs, according to ABC News.“Thanks to President Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over.We are reorienting our foreign assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United States and our citizens,” Rubio added.“We are continuing essential lifesaving programs and making strategic investments that strengthen our partners and our own country.

This is yet another promise made and delivered to the American people.”Members of Congress were also informed of the decision to move USAID operations inside the State Department by July 1 — while “discontinuing the remaining” agency functions “that do not align with Administration priorities.”With an annual budget of roughly $40 billion, USAID was responsible for funding critical health care and foreign aid programs but had also been criticized by Republican lawmakers for years for footing the bill for left-wing programs.House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) had called out several USAID grants last month — including $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam, $47,000 for “a transgender opera in Colombia” and $32,000 for t...