Elon Musk, the trillionaire CEO and former temporary government employee, threatened to sue Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna after the lawmaker accused Musk of “possibly” sentencing 4.5 million children to death by cutting funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Monday morning, Musk took to his social media platform, X, to lash out at Khanna for suggesting Musk’s deep cuts to USAID’s funding and workforce, while overseeing DOGE last year, may have led to millions of children dying.
“You know they’re celebrating that he created 4,400 millionaires, but they don’t talk about the 4.5 million children around the world who he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling USAID,” Khanna said on the “I’ve Had It” podcast over the weekend.
Musk responded by calling the progressive Democrat a “liar” and “robber” while also accusing him of insider stock trading.
“Time to sue this liar,” Musk wrote.
The Independent has asked Khanna’s office for comment.
Musk, who temporarily oversaw DOGE, a Trump administration initiative to scale down the federal workforce and make massive cuts to what he called wasteful government spending, has been defensive of the group’s cuts.
Monday, he insisted DOGE’s cuts to USAID were the result of a new rule that required the agency to contact aid recipients to confirm funds were being used legitimately. He pointed to a Justice Department release that said one USAID employee and three contractors pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud.
“The reality is that money was being sent to corrupt politicians under the guise of aid! Liars and stock insider traders like Ro the Robber should be in prison!!” Musk wrote.
Khanna responded to Musk’s attacks by pointing to a 2025 study that determined, without access to USAID resources and funding, 14 million people in low-and-middle-income countries could die by 2030 – including more than 4.5 million children under the age of 5.
Advocates of USAID had long warned of the potential consequences of shuttering USAID, which assisted in researching and providing medical solutions to global health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, polio and more. The agency also assisted in emergency disaster relief, providing nutrition to areas experiencing famine, bolstering economic development and more.
USAID, once the world’s largest foreign aid agency, was effectively closed down by the Trump administration last year.
Officials had claimed the agency was wasteful by promoting baseless theories about USAID’s funding on social media, including that it funded a transgender opera in Colombia – which was false. Musk himself called USAID a “criminal organization” and insisted it needed to “die.”
On the “I’ve Had It” podcast, Khanna said Musk needed “to answer” for cuts to USAID.
“He needs to be subpoenaed. He needs to face investigation. He needs to answer for what he did with DOGE,” Khanna added.
