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The fate of the US Agency for International Development appeared bleak Monday after Elon Musk, the world’s richest man charged with overhauling the federal government, said President Donald Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down.

In Washington, USAID’s headquarters was closed for the day, with employees told in an email to remain at home.

Logos and photos of its aid work have been stripped from building walls. And its website and social media accounts have gone dark, replaced with a reduced version of its webpage on the State Department’s website.

The longtime international aid agency has found itself in the crosshairs of Trump and Musk’s effort to reform the federal government. Trump and his allies have said the agency, created by Congress as an independent body, is overtly partisan and favorable to Democrats.

Lawmakers and aid workers have been bracing for Trump to shut down the agency entirely and place it under the umbrella of the State Department, a step that appeared imminent Monday morning following Musk’s comments during a talk on X, the social media platform that he owns.

“With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it with (the president) in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said in a X Spaces conversation early Monday.

CNN has reached out to the White House and USAID for comment. Trump himself affirmed his disdain for the agency and its mission of providing foreign aid during a question-and-answer session with reporters late Monday.

“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision” on its future, he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.

USAID workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come into their Washington office, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

“At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025. Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” said the email, of which CNN has obtained a copy.

Over the weekend, two top security officials at USAID were put on administrative leave for refusing members of the Department of Government Efficiency access to systems at the agency, even when DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.

Three sources told CNN that in the end, the DOGE personnel were eventually able to access the headquarters. Katie Miller, whom Trump named to DOGE in December, on Sunday appeared to confirm that DOGE personnel had accessed classified information.

“No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances,” she posted on X.

USAID workers were also informed last week that the agency’s Google Drive is now accessible from the State Department.

“We have been officially informed that the US Department of State now has access to all of our internal documents and our entire suite of files, documents, everything — all of our systems,” a USAID worker said.

USAID logos and photos showing the humanitarian work the agency does around the globe were removed from its offices last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

“All of the visuals have been taken down. These are like large-scale photos of our work in developing countries that are in our lobbies, in our galleys, in communal kitchens, hallways,” a USAID employee said. “An order also came down to individual bureaus and offices to remove all USAID artwork and signage.”

Another USAID worker told CNN: “They’ve taken the photos off the walls, and we’re missing half of our colleagues because our colleagues are gone and have been let go, and everyone sort of feels like they’re walking around with a target on their back.”

A source who works in a USAID annex building told CNN they have no word on whether they should go to work on Monday.

When asked if leaders in their department appeared to have any more information on the future of the agency’s work, the source said: “Our senior leaders have all been fired.”

Around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week on accusations of attempting to circumvent Trump’s executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days. Many more junior staff and contractors within the agency have been placed on furlough as well, multiple sources told CNN.

On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday, and a source told CNN that the entire USAID public affairs office was put on leave and locked out of their systems.

Shortly after being sworn in last month, Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days, leading to widespread confusion, layoffs and program shutdowns.

USAID was established in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy’s administration and is the US government’s humanitarian arm. It dispenses billions of dollars annually across the world in an effort to alleviate poverty, treat diseases, and respond to famines and natural disasters. It also promotes democracy building and development by supporting non-government organizations, independent media and social initiatives.

USAID is a key soft power tool of the US to foster relations with communities around the world, officials say, noting that US national security is approached with the “three D” pillars: defense, diplomacy and development, led, respectively, by the Defense Department, State Department and USAID.

This story has been updated with additional reporting and background information.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.

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CNN
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President Donald Trump has finally made good on a campaign promise to raise tariffs on Chinese imports – announcing on Saturday duties of 10% on all Chinese goods coming in the country as part of sweeping trade measures that also targeted Mexico and Canada.

Now the question for Chinese leaders is how strongly to retaliate.

In the wake of the announcement, Chinese officials – who were hit by Trump’s move while in the middle of a week-long public holiday – vowed to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization and “take corresponding countermeasures” without specifying in what form.

The imposition of a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States “seriously violates the WTO rules,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Sunday, adding that China will “resolutely defend its rights.”

That response, at least so far, has been noticeably less concrete than the ones from Mexico and Canada, which were both quick to pledge swift retaliatory tariffs. The latest announcement raises a 10% tariff on Chinese products, rather than the 25% on all goods from Mexico and most from Canada – all are expected to go into effect Tuesday. Unlike for China, where the latest tariffs top existing ones on a swath of goods, Canada and Mexico previously enjoyed nearly a duty-free relationship with the US.

But there are other reasons besides the number next to the percentage sign and China’s public holiday that could account for the comparatively mild response from the world’s second largest economy.

Beijing has enjoyed an unexpectedly warm start to Trump’s second term – a welcome development for Chinese leaders as they seek to avoid escalating trade and tech frictions at the same time as the export-reliant country’s economy slows.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump had what the US leader called a “very good” phone call days before Trump took office, and his inaugural ceremony was attended by the highest-level Chinese official to ever be dispatched to such an event.

The US president has also sent other signals he’s in dealmaking mode with Beijing – saying repeatedly he hopes to work with Xi on resolving Russia’s war in Ukraine and suggesting in a recent interview with Fox News that he thought Washington and Beijiing could reach a trade deal.

While the president campaigned on winning economic competition with China and stacked his administration with a bevy of China hawks, the recent tone may suggest to Beijing that it’s better not to escalate too extensively, at least not yet.

The 10% tariffs are a far cry from the upwards of 60% tariffs that Trump suggested he could levy on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail. Trump has – at least in his rhetoric – largely linked these duties to the role of Chinese suppliers in the fentanyl trade, not the gaping trade imbalance between the US and China.

Instead, the expectation within China has been that Trump may be biding his time until he receives the results of a larger probe into US-China economic and trade relations that he commissioned in an executive order signed on his first day in office.

“Trump may rely on the upcoming results of trade investigations to impose or expand tariffs on specific countries, testing their tolerance and willingness to negotiate,” an analysis published Sunday on the website of Shanghai-based think tank Fudan Development Institute said.

“The risk of escalating into a ‘full-blown trade war’ cannot be ruled out. Before any actual actions are taken, Trump can still use ambiguous strategies to pressure opponents and wait for substantive concessions from them,” it continued.

The Trump-ordered review, due April 1, is expected to guide whether the White House imposes further duties on China. In the meantime, Beijing has time to build a relationship with Trump, entertain him in the Chinese capital or push for a preemptive deal to avert more severe economic penalties.

The message from China’s top political echelon has been conciliatory. Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang last month told elites gathered in Davos that Beijing wants to “promote balanced trade” with the world, while Xi called for a “new starting point” in US-China ties.

Beijing’s decision to complain to the WTO about the new tariffs underscores a key message from Chinese Communist Party propagandists: that China plays by global rules, while the US is the one who does not. Beijing has also defended its efforts to control exports of precursor chemicals for fentanyl and said the drug crisis is “America’s problem.”

It remains to be seen whether China will announce more trade countermeasures in the days ahead. But its initial response to the 10% duty and messaging in recent weeks suggests that it may still be in a wait-and-see mode before digging too deeply into its toolbox of retaliatory measures.

An opinion piece published by state broadcaster CCTV Sunday decried the “erroneous” tariffs while also calling for more cooperation between the two countries.

Pundits within the country have downplayed the impact of the 10% tariffs – amid a larger debate about whether it would serve China to escalate a trade war like during the first administration.

In 2018, Trump heightened or imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of Chinese imports to the US, with Beijing hitting back with what analysts say were some $185 billion of its own tariffs on US goods.

The Biden administration largely kept those duties in place, while focusing on its own so-called “small yard, high fence” approach to trade with China – placing targeted export controls on Chinese access to high tech that could have military applications.

That saw Beijing unleash its own controls – limiting the export of certain critical minerals and related technologies that countries rely on to fabricate products from military goods to semiconductors. Late last year, the country revamped its export control regulations, sharpening its ability to restrict so-called dual-use goods.

A ramping up of the use of these controls, as well as retaliatory tariffs, could be moves for Beijing in the weeks ahead or if Trump does levy higher tariffs in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Beijing has already taken steps to insulate itself from some of the impacts of the tariffs, which Trump himself has admitted could bring “pain” for Americans – an admission that follows concerns from economists and members of Congress that Americans will bear the cost of the measures.

The US imported $401 billion worth of goods from China, with a trade deficit of over $270 billion in the first 11 months of last year, according to US government data. That placed China behind only Mexico as a top source for goods imported to the US.

Chinese state media on Sunday said the country’s exports to the US account for only 3% of their GDP and less than 15% of China’s total exports.

“China has long been preparing less exposure to the US, diversifying in all ways, not just in terms of trading partners, investment, but also currencies and payment system,” Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics told CNN’s Fareed Zarakia during the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

“The tariffs will hurt both countries. But you’ve seen already a gradual kind of redirection of trade to other countries (from Chinese companies),” Jin said.

China sees “Trump as somebody who they can negotiate with, that there’s room for negotiation,” she added.

By Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that “certain classes of people” in South Africa were being treated “very badly” and that he would cut off funding for the country until the matter is investigated.

“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he said.

The United States obligated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent U.S. government data showed.

Last month South African President Cryil Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that would make it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest.

The law aims to address racial disparities in land ownership that persist three decades after apartheid’s demise in 1994.

South Africa’s foreign ministry said in response to Trump’s post that “we trust President Trump’s advisers will make use of the investigative period to attain a thorough understanding of South Africa’s policies within the framework of a constitutional democracy.”

It added: “It may become clear that our expropriation act is not exceptional, as many countries have similar legislation.”

South Africa currently holds the G20 presidency, after which the U.S. takes over.

Last month, Ramaphosa said he was not worried about the country’s relationship with Trump. He said he had spoken to Trump after the latter’s election victory and looked forward to working with his administration.

During his first administration, Trump said the U.S. would investigate unproven large-scale killings of white farmers in South Africa and violent takeovers of land. Pretoria at the time said Trump was misinformed. It is unclear whether the Trump administration carried out an investigation.

Trump’s close ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa. In 2023, Musk replied on X to a video of a far-left South African political party singing an old anti-apartheid song, “Kill the Boer (farmer)”, by stating: “They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.”

“@CyrilRamaphosa, why do you say nothing?” Musk asked.

Musk met Ramaphosa in the U.S. in September last year where they discussed investment in South Africa.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis; Additional reporting by Tannur Anders and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo in Johannesburg; Editing by Sandra Maler and Christopher Cushing)

play videoYaw Adomako Baafi and Eugene Boakye Antwi

Former Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Adomako Baafi, has lambasted the former Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency in the Ashanti region, Eugene Boakye Antwi, over his recent rants after the party lost the 2024 general elections.

According to Adomako Baafi, Eugene benefited from the previous government as Deputy Minister for Works and Housing but has now turned against his appointee, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He cautioned him to desist from his attacks on the former president and party leadership, asserting that he is also not clean.

Speaking in an interview on Okay FM on January 31, 2025, he stated, “So Eugene Boakye Antwi should take his time. If nothing at all, Akufo-Addo made you deputy minister, and you met Atta Akyea, who helped you a lot; so today, what has Akufo-Addo done? Because you are looking for General Secretary…you don’t respect anybody?

“He talks too much; he should take time. Go to Subin and ask, he is an MP who is very selective, even when it comes to sharing items with the constituency. It is becoming too much. If nothing at all, you took ex-gratia and saved your salary.”

Eugene has accused Akufo-Addo of being one of the reasons why the NPP lost power in the 2024 elections.

According to him, the then president and his family circles contributed to the anger of Ghanaians to vote against the NPP.

AM/SEA

You can also watch the latest episode of Everyday People on GhanaWeb TV below:

It has been learned from his close friends that senior TDP leader and former minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu is raging over his lack of priority.

If the TDP comes to power, the first person to get a berth in the cabinet is Yanamala Ramakrishnudu. 

If the TDP was in power, the name of Yanamala would have been a big one in East Godavari district earlier.

Yanamala represented Tuni constituency as an MLA for decades. He worked as Speaker during NTR’s regime.

Yanamala stood by Chandrababu during the TDP crisis as Speaker. Chandrababu was grateful for that.

That is why even though Yanamala lost from Tuni, Chandrababu gave him an MLC and took him into the cabinet.

Now, the TDP is dominated by young leader Nara Lokesh.

Lokesh kept Yanamala aside while forming the cabinet keeping his political future in mind. Till then, it was being advertised that Yanamala would definitely have a place in Babu’s cabinet.

Not only did that not happen, but it is also known that Yanamala is unable to digest the fact that his opinion is not holding any value in East Godavari district now.

In East Godavari district, it is reported that whatever Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and Minister Nara Lokesh, who is close to the young leader, say, is the final. 

Yanamala’s close friends say that these political developments are not to his liking.

On the other hand, there is a strong feeling in Yanamala that Murali, MD of Divis Industries, who is in his own constituency, is also not taking any notice, but dealing directly with Chandrababu.

Moreover, the fact that Yanamala’s daughter Divya was not given any position in the government is also making him angry. 

In any case, the discussion that Yanamala is getting angry in the changed political situation is going on on a large scale in the combined East Godavari district.

(ANDREW BERNARD / JNS) — Tulsi Gabbard, the Trump administration’s pick to head the U.S. intelligence community, faced scrutiny from Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Thursday about her unorthodox foreign-policy views and her meeting with former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

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Members of the the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence quizzed the former four-term Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii about her week-long, 2017 trip to Syria and Lebanon, as she seeks to become U.S. director of national intelligence.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) asked Gabbard why she met with Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, who threatened the United States and Europe with suicide bombers in 2011 if they attacked Syria or Lebanon.

“I made it a point to meet with different religious leaders, both Muslim leaders as well as various Christian and Catholic leaders who were there in the region,” Gabbard testified. “I did that both in Syria and in Lebanon to hear from them about what their concerns or thoughts were with regard to the war that was being raged at the time.”

Gabbard said she was unaware of the grand mufti’s threat until Heinrich asked her about it on Thursday.

Asked by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) if she had ever knowingly met with members of Hezbollah, Gabbard said “no” and called that idea an “absurd accusation.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) was skeptical that Gabbard could have avoided meeting Hezbollah-affiliated officials during her Lebanon visit.

“You said you met with Shia religious figures and you didn’t know who they were,” he said. “I can’t imagine Shia religious figures in the Bekaa Valley that didn’t have ties to Hezbollah.”

Gabbard’s nomination is expected to be one of the more difficult of a Trump pick to get through Senate confirmation, with several Republicans on the committee pressing her on her views of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of U.S. classified documents before fleeing to Russia, where he became a citizen in 2022.

“When we find that Americans—whether private citizens or contractors or uniformed personnel—have shared sensitive designs about military technology or plans to a foreign government, however well-intentioned, we rightfully throw the book at them. Snowden did just that,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told Gabbard. “Yet you have argued many times that he should be pardoned.”

Gabbard declined to call Snowden a “traitor” under repeated questioning from senators. She said that she believed he broke the law but had exposed illegal surveillance programs that prompted congressional reform.

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