Democrats rip Elon Musk’s energy seize: ‘Outrageous, scandalous, unlawful’

Billionaire Elon Musk is utilizing his sway inside Donald Trump’s administration to attempt to destroy america Company for Worldwide Improvement. USAID handles U.S. assist to overseas tasks round public well being, training, catastrophe reduction, and selling democracy overseas.

On Monday, congressional Democrats condemned Musk’s actions, calling them unlawful throughout a press convention outdoors of the closed USAID headquarters. 

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut singled out Musk’s enterprise pursuits in China, which many individuals consider inspired Musk to torpedo the Home GOP’s spending invoice in December. 

“China is cheering at this action today,” Murphy mentioned.

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Murphy: “Let’s not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest.”

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-03T18:26:04.635Z

“Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland mentioned. “But you don’t control the money of the American people. The United States Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution.” 

Raskin referred to as the billionaire’s actions an “outrageous, scandalous, illegal maneuver.” The congressman questioned the goal of Musk’s tried finances cuts, noting the Pentagon, whose finances is greater than 20 occasions the scale of the USAID, doesn’t appear to be on Musk’s listing. 

“The Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor, Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world off of our money, he collects his payments from,” Raskin mentioned. “And now he’s trying to shut down USAID. We’re not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand.”

Musk responded on his hate-filled social media web site, X, with a little bit of doublespeak that George Orwell would have most likely discovered egregious.

Trump appears content material with the notion that he’s operating the present, however it’s clear that he’s out of his depth in terms of billionaire predators like Musk pulling the strings behind—and now in entrance—of the scenes.