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submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Destruction of world's largest humanitarian programme was done without formal authority or official oversight, former USAID employees claim

Elon Musk, leader of the Trump administration's now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency, must sit for depositions along with senior State Department officials over their role in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Pointing to findings that Musk had made the decision to break up USAID – one of the world's largest humanitarian programs – despite lacking formal authority or official approval – District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that there was "no alternative" than for Musk and other officials to provide testimony regarding their decision-making process.

The ruling represents a win for a group of anonymous former USAID employees who are suing Musk, DOGE and State Department officials over the closure.

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[-] lemmylump@lemmy.world 80 points 1 week ago

If he ever faces justice for the hundreds of thousands needlessly dead because of him I hope it a fine based on net worth like the Nordic countries do, and then death.

[-] green_red_black@slrpnk.net 35 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately it’s the US justice system and Elon has the largest Wealth Value in the world

[-] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Unfortunately it’s the US justice system

But it's the best justice system money can buy?!

[-] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's the best justice system money can buy out*

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[-] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 8 points 1 week ago

Yeah but that value is based almost exclusively on stock in volatile companies like Tesla. Kill Tesla and that disappears basically overnight.

[-] green_red_black@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

Thankfully Tesla is falling. But in the meantime Spacex is taking up the lead to send humans back to the moon and eventually Mars, Starlink is showing to be a value in Ukraine and for Iranian people trying to resist oppression.

(These two shall fall eventually.)

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[-] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Yes but that concentration of wealth is not only an asset but a threat.

He’s rich. Obscenely rich. The kind of rich where you can buy other rich people. He has no peers.

And if you take him out, that money, power, influence, it’s all up for grabs. The power vacuum is intoxicating to a certain subset of humanity who, funny thing, he’s been propping up.

I’m concerned about the leopards. They are going to die of morbid obesity.

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[-] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago
[-] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 28 points 1 week ago

I thought that said deported.

My evening is ruined.

[-] northernlights@lemmy.today 17 points 1 week ago

Don't you get deported when you're not born in the US and are convicted of a felony? Just saying.

[-] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 8 points 1 week ago

He's a naturalized US citizen. But citizenship can be stripped, especially if someone has dual citizenship. And Musk still has Canadian citizenship...

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[-] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago
[-] GhostPain@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Dems will hound him doggedly for donations next election cycle.

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[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Freeze his assets. He needs to fund the rebuilding of our national security infrastructure

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

...and toss his neo-Nazi ass into prison.

[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

France is definitely going to issue an arrest warrant before we do

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[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Christ, can they seize all of his assets?

Also, will this be recorded and shown to the public?

[-] Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org 13 points 1 week ago

We need less "depose" and more "dispose".

[-] NateNate60@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I remember when Musk was the cool electric car guy and not the chief accomplice to the dismantling of Western democracy.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

He was never really that either tho. He’s always been a douche.

[-] Professorozone@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Oh no. A deposition. Questions will be asked. He's in big trouble.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

He might even get a finger wagged at him!

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Spoiler Alert: It was a grift at the expense of the American tax payer. Like literally everything the Republican party does.

Elect criminals, get robbed.

[-] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Ten's of thousands of people have already died at the hands of Elon Musk destroying USAID. It was all part of their plan. Then Elon got hundreds of billions in welfare from trump for helping do the dirty work.

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

And America just sat by and watched.

We truly are a weak nation.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 5 points 1 week ago

This is so annoying. If he wasn't allowed to or able to or supposed to, how did it happen???

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

The constitution was written by people who assumed the positions they were creating would always be occupied by good-faith actors. They weren't.

[-] weirdbeardgame@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other" - John Adams

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

[-] freddydunningkruger@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

USAID was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy via executive order under the authority of the Congress-passed Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. While authorized by this legislation, it was later formally codified as an independent agency by Congress through the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998.

Sadly, a LOT of people stayed home and did not vote for Kamala Harris, or they voted 3rd party, and Trump was elected to run the Executive branch. The Trump administration decided the executive branch could choose which laws they executed. The opposition was immediate and lawsuits were filed, but the gears of justice grind slowly, so here we are in 2026 with depositions finally starting.

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[-] Leather@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Most pedos are used to being the only adult in the room. They make up whatever rules they want.

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[-] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

Maybe trial him for mass murder as this costed an estimate of 600.000 to 1.200.000 people their lives.

[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Elon musk: he's like henry kissinger levels of evil.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

So he's going to win the Nobel?

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[-] einlander@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

DEPORT THIS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT!

[-] notsure@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

When every human counts, not because of border, not because of claimed inheritance, not because of any physical feature.................and if wishes were horses.

[-] MortUS@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

(X) to Doubt

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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
326 points (99.1% liked)

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