ANI WASHINGTON

US president Donald Trump appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.

The news came hours after American tech billionaire Elon Musk charged with overhauling the federal government, said President Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down. Democrats say that it is not legal for the President to shutter a federal agency without consulting the Congress.

"The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long strayed from its original mission of responsibly advancing American interests abroad, and it is now abundantly clear that significant portions of USAID funding are not aligned with the core national interests of the United States," US State Department wrote on X.

To address this, the President has appointed Secretary Rubio as Acting Administrator of USAID. "As an interim step toward gaining control and better understanding over the agency's activity, President Donald Trump appointed Secretary Marco Rubio as Acting Administrator. Secretary Rubio has also now notified Congress that a review of USAID's foreign assistance activities is underway with an eye towards potential reorganization," it added.