A senior official from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has been appointed to a leadership position within the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
According to an email sent to agency staff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio immediately designated Jeremy Lewin, a DOGE official who enacted Musk's government-cutting efforts at USAID and other agencies, as deputy administrator for policy and programs at USAID and as chief operating officer.
The change comes the same day a federal judge ruled that Musk and DOGE appear to have no Constitutional authority to shut down USAID, blocked DOGE from making further changes and and directed the government to reinstate email and computer access for employees.
Scripps News spoke with Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer about the developments on Wednesday.
"It sounds like it's at least one step less illegitimate than the things they've done so far," Beyer said. "The judge's order reinstating all of this is very, very encouraging. The President and Marco Rubio actually put people into legitimate places — acting directors, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries — then at least they're following the process of the law, which is much more encouraging."
"A great deal of damage has been done" to USAID thanks to DOGE's activities, Beyer said, "But we don't want to walk away. We have 50 years of deep investment in USAID, in building up disease fighting and lifting up people around the world.
"We need to start rebuilding, and the judge's order is a good first start," Beyer said.
Watch the full interview with Beyer in the above video.
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