Secretary of state says he has assumed control of agency to ‘align’ it with Trump’s priorities

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The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, declared himself the acting administrator of the besieged United States Agency for International Aid (USAid) on Monday as staffers were locked out of its Washington DC headquarters and the White House confirmed plans to merge it into the state department.

The agency has become a touchpoint for the Trump administration’s efforts to seize control of federal spending in recent days through Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).