Scott Pelley interviewed former USAID chief Andrew Natsios on the latest episode of 60 Minutes and requested him whether or no longer Elon Musk unilaterally shutting down his former agency is driving the united states towards a constitutional hindrance.

Natsios, who ran USAID all the way through President George W Bush’s administration, instructed CBS that Musk and President Donald Trump lacked the authority to simply shutter the agency.

“He can not rescind federal law with the aid of government order. And A.I.D is a statutory company. The Foreign Assistance Act, I imagine, is three or four hundred pages lengthy. You can’t rescind that without an act of the Congress. And the Congress has no longer acted,” Natsios mentioned, adding:

Performing on his personal, the president began through destroying USAID’s image. In on-line posts, the administration smeared USAID as — quote — “a prison group” and called staff “worms.”

Pelley brought, “About USAID, President Trump has stated, ‘Billions of greenbacks were stolen.’ ‘The whole thing is a fraud.’”

“It’s utter nonsense. probably The most responsible assist agency on the planet is USAID. I have written in fact broadly on this subject. Forty % of the workforce are accountants and legal professionals and other people trying to make sure no cash is stolen,” Natsios spoke back, including:

We’ve created systems to monitor that. What they did was once, they went back two decades to take a look at to seek out things, if you must return two decades to seek out abuse, that means there isn’t that a lot abuse.

USAID’s spending in 2023 was once 38 billion, that’s lower than 1% of the federal budget. Natsios informed us there is waste and occasional fraud like any giant company, bring to mind the Pentagon, however the money he says is watched by officers including these in the OMB—the Office of Administration and Budget.

Later in the interview, Natsios adds, “I am not a moderate Republican. I am a conservative Republican. And– and a strict constructionist. The explanation they’re no longer saying anything, I feel they’re afraid. Musk has stated that he would spend $100 million in primaries on any one who opposed the president on the rest. So, I feel there’s plenty of concern within the metropolis presently.”

“How do you view this moment in history?” Pelley asked.

“I don’t wanna be– too pessimistic. But it surely does appear we is also headed towards some form of a constitutional quandary. I don’t– I– I hope that doesn’t happen. I pray it doesn’t occur. But it surely’s undoubtedly concerning to me what’s occurring in this metropolis presently,” Natsios responded.

“Is the constitutional order breaking down?” Pelley pressed.

“We’ll see. If they– in the event that they refuse to implement a court docket order via the Supreme Court. If it will get to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court docket rules towards the administration on one thing and they refuse to put into effect it, then we can have a constitutional crisis,” replied Natsios.

Pelley shot back, “What happens then?”

“I don’t recognize,” Natsios, responded as they each agreed, “Nobody is aware of.”

Musk answered to a publish from 60 Minutes on X Sunday saying, “60 Minutes are the biggest liars on the earth! They engaged in deliberate deception to intervene with the remaining election. They deserve a protracted prison sentence.”

Watch the clip above.

The submit ‘Congress Has Not Acted!’ Bush’s USAID Chief Warns Of ‘Constitutional Situation’ And Musk Overstepping Govt Power first regarded on Mediaite.