Musk Angry Over Accusations DOGE Cuts Killed Multitudes—Including Children

Elon Musk—showing increasing anger over allegations the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development by his short-lived Department of Government Efficiency had fatal consequences—lashed out at critics on the social platform he owns, even as a number of studies support those claims.

Musk, in a post on X on Sunday, claimed those who say DOGE’s USAID cuts resulted in deaths “cannot cite a single name of someone who died out of the ‘millions’ they falsely claim have died. Not a single name!”

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who last year identified specific people he says died after USAID-backed services were disrupted, quickly responded with the names of four he said died because of the cuts, including an 8-year-old girl, and suggested the world’s richest person travel to Africa with him to “talk to these moms and dads, and you’ll see the dying children themselves.”

Musk has disputed claims the USAID cuts caused deaths multiple times over the last year: In March 2025, Musk argued “no one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,” and earlier this month he responded to a story from The Verge titled “The World’s First Trillionaire Is a Killer,” by writing, “If I were, the douchebags at Verge would have been dead long ago."

After Bill Gates—who has feuded with Musk for years over Musk’s reported lack of charitable giving—accused Musk of “killing the world’s poorest children” and of taking steps “that over time will kill over a million children” in May 2025, Musk wrote: “Gates is a huge liar.”

Humanitarian funding from the U.S. was slashed to $3.7 billion from $14 billion from 2024 to 2025, according to Refugees International, which cited USAID’s closure as the “most prominent manifestation” of a downturn in international humanitarian aid.

USAID spending was reduced by roughly 58% in 2025 from 2024, according to the Center for Global Development.

In a post on X on Monday, Musk wrote: “Deaths in Africa DECREASED after USAID funding was cut, because they’re no longer able to push for violent revolution to install leftist regimes!” There is no available evidence supporting Musk’s claim. Some indicators point in the opposite direction: Zimbabwe’s health ministry reported a 180% year-over-year increase in malaria cases through the first four months of 2025 and a 218% surge in malaria-related deaths, up to 143 from 45. USAID disbursed about $270 million for health and agriculture programs in Zimbabwe in 2024.

A study published in March 2025 found the loss of aid funding for children facing malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries would cut off 1 million children from treatment, potentially resulting in 163,000 child deaths each year. Another study published in the Lancet in July 2025 found the funding cuts could cause the deaths of more than 4.5 million children and more than 14 million total deaths by 2030. Kristof, citing data from the Center for Global Development, found that more than 1.6 million people could die within a year without American foreign aid for HIV prevention and treatment. A tracker co-created by Boston University professor Brooke Nichols projected more than 780,000 deaths caused by the cuts, roughly 518,000 of which are children, after cuts to treatment for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia, among others.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in a podcast episode earlier this month that Musk “needs to answer” for the “4.5 million children around the world who he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling USAID.” Musk, in a response on X, wrote, “Time to sue this liar.” In a follow-up post, Musk claimed USAID funding was “being sent to corrupt politicians under the guise of aid” and that “liars and stock insider traders like Ro the Robber should be in prison.”

There are no widespread examples. But there are instances in which USAID funds reached corrupt governments or officials indirectly: Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Tex., and Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., criticized the Biden administration in 2024 after a since-deleted report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that about $10.9 million from aid groups funded by USAID and the State Department was indirectly transferred to the Taliban. USAID’s watchdog warned in 2023 there were “several instances” where humanitarian aid in Afghanistan was likely compromised by Taliban intimidation or demands.

$474 million. That’s how much Musk gave in charitable donations in 2024, though most of his grants were given to entities he controls. The largest recipient was The Foundation, a nonprofit created by Musk in 2021 to build and manage a STEM-focused K-12 school, which received $370 million across three separate donations. But Musk fell short of the yearly 5% minimum the IRS legally requires his foundation to give away, after falling roughly $423 million short in 2023.

USAID, the primary international humanitarian aid and development branch of the U.S. government, was shuttered by the Trump administration in early 2025 despite pushback from global aid groups that warned it would have a catastrophic humanitarian impact. As of fiscal year 2023, the agency employed more than 10,000 people and managed more than $40 billion in appropriations with assistance to about 130 countries. The agency’s website went offline in February 2025 shortly after the Trump administration moved to bring USAID under direct control of the State Department, after which officials from the Department of Government Efficiency reportedly tried to access materials at the aid agency’s office, including classified information. Musk responded to CNN’s reporting, calling USAID a “criminal organization” without evidence, and saying that it was time for the agency “to die.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on July 1, 2025, that USAID was shuttered, noting, “Americans should not pay taxes to fund failed governments in faraway lands.”

Musk is by far the world’s richest person with a net worth of $975 billion as of Monday, according to Forbes’ estimates. He became the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s record-setting IPO earlier this month, but Musk later lost his trillionaire status following a slump in SpaceX shares and new restrictions on his Tesla equity.