Rubio Says He’s Acting Director Of USAID As Humanitarian Agency Is Taken Over By The State Department

By CNN
Posted on 02/03/25 | News Source: CNN

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that he is acting administrator the US Agency for International Development, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.

The news came hours 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.

Rubio said that the “functions of USAID” must align with US foreign policy and that it is “a completely unresponsive agency.”

Rubio said he is serving as acting administrator of USAID, but said he has “delegated the authority” to someone else with whom he is in touch. The acting USAID administrator had previously been Jason Gray – CNN has asked the State Department if this is the person Rubio referenced.

“It’s supposed to respond to policy directives of the State Department, and it refuses to do so,” he claimed.

Asked about the arguments that USAID’s vital work is vital to national security and promoting US interests, Rubio said, “there are things that USAID, that we do through USAID, that we should continue to do, and we will continue to do.

“But everything they do has to be in alignment with the national interest and the foreign policy of the United States,” the top US diplomat said in El Salvador.