Elon Musk has threatened to sue Democratic Representative Ro Khanna after the congressman suggested that Musk's cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) may have resulted in the deaths of 4.5 million children. Musk, the billionaire CEO and former temporary government employee, responded on his social media platform X, calling Khanna a 'liar' and a 'robber' and accusing him of insider stock trading.
Khanna made the comments on the 'I've Had It' podcast over the weekend, saying: 'You know they're celebrating that he created 4,400 millionaires, but they don't talk about the 4.5 million children around the world who he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling USAID.' The lawmaker also called for Musk to be subpoenaed and investigated for his role in overseeing DOGE, a Trump administration initiative to reduce the federal workforce and cut government spending.
Musk defended the cuts, insisting that DOGE's actions were based on a new rule requiring USAID to confirm that funds were being used legitimately. He pointed to a Justice Department release stating that one USAID employee and three contractors had pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud. 'The reality is that money was being sent to corrupt politicians under the guise of aid!' Musk wrote.
Khanna responded by citing a 2025 study which found that without access to USAID resources, 14 million people in low- and middle-income countries could die by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under five. USAID, once the world's largest foreign aid agency, was effectively shut down by the Trump administration last year. The agency had provided medical solutions for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and polio, as well as emergency disaster relief and nutrition assistance.
Officials had previously claimed the agency was wasteful, promoting baseless theories about its funding on social media, including a false claim that it funded a transgender opera in Colombia. Musk himself called USAID a 'criminal organisation' and said it needed to 'die.'
