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Trump strips USAID signage at DC headquarters, CBP now occupies building

February 8, 2025 | | Print Article

After Elon Musk called out the “ball of worms,” President Donald Trump’s administration’s moves to clean house at USAID included a literal step to “basically get rid of the whole thing.”

The frenzy of hyperbolic Democratic lawmakers protesting outside government buildings proved as wasted as the taxpayer money being funneled through the agencies as the D.C. swamp-draining advanced. Friday, this included outward proof of the shrinking of the federal government as the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development was stripped of its signage.

Images from the scene at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW showed as workers removed the letters from the face of the building and taped over signs that would have to be recreated as the Department of Government Efficiency’s X account served up a reference to former Vice President Kamala Harris and joked, “Unburdened by what has been.”

Sharing the post, DOGE head Musk indicated, “This building is now occupied by @CBP.”

In addition to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the address was also home to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Following the revelations about billions of dollars worth of waste going toward funding things like “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” and “seminars at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on gender identity and racial equality” the decision had been made to fold USAID into the Department of State, limiting the workforce of over 10,000 to less than 300 staffers.

“This is not about ending the programs that USAID does, per se,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told reporters. “There are things that it does that are good, and there are things that it does that we have strong questions about.”

Of course, Musk himself had said of USAID, “It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

Since the work of DOGE to find waste had begun in the capital city, not only had investigations been conducted at USAID, the Department of Treasury, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and more, nine-figure savings had been tallied by canceling the leases of office spaces that were going underutilized by federal agencies.

Meanwhile, as the administrative leave went into effect globally on Friday, “with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs,” the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees had filed suit against the Trump administration Wednesday via Democracy Forward and the Public Citizen Litigation Group.

“Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” claimed the lawsuit seeking a reversal of the administration’s actions. “And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”

Along with pushing back on the claims that congressional approval was required, Trump told CNN Monday, “Not when it comes to fraud. We just want to do the right thing. It’s something that should have been done a long time ago.”

Trump opined on Truth Social Friday by posting, “USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE WAY IN WHICH THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT, SO MUCH OF IT FRAUDULENTLY, IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE. THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!”

Kevin Haggerty
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