A former USAID official alleges the agency's shutdown was to appease Elon Musk's ego, not to cut waste, warning of potential mass casualties. The whistleblower deems the shutdown illegal.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Nicolas Enrich, a former senior USAID official-turned-whistleblower, said the US agency was dismantled not to cut waste but "to soothe the ego of the world's richest man", then DOGE head Elon Musk. Enrich warned that up to 14 million people could die in the next five years as a result and called the shutdown "illegal".