Trump has long vowed to gut what he calls a bloated federal workforce hampering America’s economy.

He set up a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — led by Musk — and tasked him with slashing regulations, cutting spending, and reducing government jobs.

Now Trump’s administration said it was placing all but a mere handful of USAID workers worldwide on paid administrative leave and eliminating around 2,000 of those positions in the US.

It comes after a federal judge on Friday allowed the Trump administration to pull thousands of USAID workers from their roles and onto leave in yet another spending crackdown.

Two former senior USAID officials estimated that a majority of around 4,600 USAID personnel, career US Civil Service and Foreign Service staffers, would be placed on administrative leave.

One of the former officials Marcia Wong said: “This administration and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio are shortsighted in cutting into the expertise and unique crisis response capacity of the US.

“When disease outbreaks occur, populations displaced, these USAID experts are on the ground and first deployed to help stabilize and provide aid?”

A second former official who wanted to keep their identity anonymous added: “Unsigned notices like this are not self-implementing.

“They must be followed up by an individual personnel action or at least an approved leave slip, properly executed by someone with that authority.”

The Republican administration has approved exceptions to the freeze totalling $5.3 billion, mostly concerning security and counter-narcotics programs.

Meanwhile, USAID programs received less than $100 million in exemptions, according to the list.

This is in comparison to around $40 billion in USAID programs administered annually prior to the freeze.

Various unions and USAID contractors say the administration lacks the constitutional authority to eliminate an independent agency or congressionally funded programs without lawmakers’ approval.

The notices of firings and leaves come on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving heartbreaking no-name form letters of termination in the past week.

A different judge in a second lawsuit tied to USAID has temporarily blocked the foreign funding freeze.

He added that the administration had continued withholding the aid despite his court order and demands that at least temporarily restore the funding to programs across the globe.

Musk has been working hard to please his new presidential buddy but Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he would like to see Musk “get more aggressive”.

“Remember, we have a country to save,” Trump added.

Responding to the outspoken Republican, Musk took to X on Saturday to announce further crackdowns on the American workplace.