Donald Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles has described being “aghast” when Elon Musk took what he called his “chainsaw” to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashed virtually all of the country’s aid spending overnight.
“Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon,” Wiles told Vanity Fair. “And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china. But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody.”
Dubbed the “ice maiden,” the White House chief of staff said that when the SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO led the charge in gutting USAID she was “initially aghast.”
“Because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed, as I did, that they do very good work,” Wiles said.
Reporting by The Independent has found that US aid cuts have deprived people of essential medicines, cut off access to family planning, risking tens of thousands of lives, and led directly to deaths.
“When Elon said, ‘We’re doing this,’ he was already into it,” Wiles said. “And that’s probably because he knew it would be horrifying to others. But he decided that it was a better approach to shut it down, fire everybody, shut them out, and then go rebuild. Not the way I would do it.”
While Donald Trump’s administration — having initially cancelled virtually all programmes aid overnight — has turned the taps back on in some areas, global health spending is still two-thirds lower than it was last year.
The article also revealed that George W Bush, who founded the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), called Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “express alarm” at a planned $400m cut to the programme. It provides HIV treatment and prevention programmes to millions around the world.
After the wide-ranging article, which also quotes Wiles as saying Trump had an “alcoholic’s personality,” was published, Wiles branded it as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff, and cabinet in history.”
In a statement to The Independent, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wiles has helped the president “achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any president in American history.”
“President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her,” she added.
This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
