Elon Musk spent a weekend "feeding USAID into the wood chipper," his words, and 83% of the agency's programs were gone within weeks. Now Congressman Ro Khanna says Musk should answer for what came next, and Musk wants to sue him for saying it.Khanna and Musk were once friendly enough that Musk blurbed Khanna's first book. Then Musk took a chainsaw to the federal government, froze foreign aid, and laid off 94% of USAID's staff. When Khanna went on the "I've Had It" podcast and said Musk's cuts could contribute...
Elon Musk spent a weekend "feeding USAID into the wood chipper," his words, and 83% of the agency's programs were gone within weeks. Now Congressman Ro Khanna says Musk should answer for what came next, and Musk wants to sue him for saying it.
Khanna and Musk were once friendly enough that Musk blurbed Khanna's first book. Then Musk took a chainsaw to the federal government, froze foreign aid, and laid off 94% of USAID's staff. When Khanna went on the "I've Had It" podcast and said Musk's cuts could contribute to 4.5 million child deaths by 2030, Musk called it "time to sue this liar," branded him "Ro the robber," and accused him of insider trading.
We break down whether that lawsuit goes anywhere: where Musk could even file, the anti-SLAPP laws in California and D.C., California's slander statute, and why Khanna's hedged "possibly" plus a peer-reviewed Lancet study likely make this protected opinion. Because Musk is a public figure, the actual malice standard from New York Times v. Sullivan applies, which makes falsity and malice nearly impossible to prove. Plus the DOGE and USAID litigation we've tracked, Nicholas Kristof's reporting on children who died after the cuts, and Musk's "we accidentally canceled Ebola prevention" clip.
Real attorneys, real filings, one very online billionaire.
(00:00) Don't say Elon killed kids
(00:52) What this fight is about
(01:44) Elon and Ro Khanna's history
(02:36) Feeding USAID to the wood chipper
(04:27) Time to sue this liar
(05:00) How Trump and DOGE cut aid
(05:41) The AIDS Coalition lawsuit
(06:43) Recklessness as a legal standard
(07:46) The scale: 83% of programs cut
(08:52) Musk demands a show orphan
(09:50) Kristof's receipts: dead kids
(11:00) The constitutional claims
(13:04) What the courts ruled
(13:54) GAO findings and the ICA
(15:00) Is the money flowing now
(16:20) Doe v. Musk and Elon's role
(17:14) The deadly consequences
(18:53) The Lancet study explained
(20:20) Could Elon win a lawsuit
(22:20) Anti-SLAPP and slander law
(25:10) Actual malice and Sullivan
(28:00) The Ebola mistake
(28:53) The fraud claim doesn't add up
(30:08) Sponsor: The EagleTeam
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LEGAL-ISH DISCLAIMER
This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Everything here is for informational purposes only. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).
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