In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have taken steps to close it. The agency now faces the prospect of being folded into the State Department under the direction of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to explain the department’s plan to purchase $400 million in armored Tesla Cybertruck vehicles, calling out tech billionaire Elon Musk’s “glaring conflict of interests.

The scene was familiar to anyone who has watched past presidential Cabinet meetings. Trump sat at the center of the table, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his right and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on his left.

The scene was familiar to anyone who has watched past presidential Cabinet meetings. Trump sat at the center of the table, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his right and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on his left.

During his years in the U.S. Senate, now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a strong supporter of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — which he viewed as a valuable asset from a foreign policy standpoint.

Behind the scenes, cabinet secretaries compared notes as they tried to figure out how to respond to a directive from President Trump’s most powerful adviser without angering the president.

Nahal Toosi is POLITICO’s senior foreign affairs correspondent. She has reported on war, genocide and political chaos in a career that has taken her around the world. Her reported column, Compass, delves into the decision-making of the global national security and foreign policy establishment — and the fallout that comes from it.

Trump campaign advisor and CEO of X Strategies, Alex Bruesewitz, called her new slot: ‘a smart move and certainly a step in the right direction’

At the first cabinet meeting of his second term, President Trump asked Elon Musk to speak first. The man tasked with slashing the federal government spoke far more than anyone else, other than Mr. Trump.