EXCLUSIVE: State Department Divide Breaks Open Between Establishment, MAGA Loyalists Over USAID Cuts

Inside the State Department, a battle is brewing over how to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Trump administration officials tell the Daily Caller the State Department is divided into two factions, between those primarily loyal to the president and those aligned with moderate Republican senators who are dovish on USAID cuts. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been under pressure from his former Senate colleagues not to fully dismantle USAID and did not initially want to take on the task when requested by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), multiple Trump administration officials told the Caller.

Cutting wasteful spending has been a main priority for Trump and DOGE, and early on, USAID was among the first agencies targeted. However, the process of doing so has apparently been contentious.

Once upon a time, before the Cold War ended, I was raised by my family to love USAID because “trust me son, it’s all CIA guys doing anti-commie propaganda.”

I cannot emphasize enough how much that mission instantly and radically altered during the Clinton years. Corruption now. https://t.co/M8buWo6HE2

— Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) February 14, 2025

“[Rubio] is getting calls all the time from his senators … when we would get a call from a senator or congressman, all of a sudden Mike Needham and Dan Holler are like, ‘oh my gosh, you better do this. You better get this member what they want,’” one Trump administration official told the Caller. “They don’t even flinch when the President issues an executive order. To the contrary, it’s as though it never happened.”

Needham, formerly Rubio’s Chief of Staff in the Senate, now serves in the same role at the State Department. Holler is his Deputy Chief of Staff.

A second Trump administration official also identified Needham as a key interlocutor between the Senators lobbying against cuts and Rubio.

One administration official added that many senators have a vested interest in keeping alive pet projects that are funded by USAID, hence the lobbying to Rubio. The source added that Rubio might want to keep some of these programs alive with the hopes of bringing USAID back in the long run. 

Those senators include some on the appropriations committee, who have heavily lobbied Rubio and his staff to reduce USAID cuts, with some effect, one administration official told the Caller. Republican senators on the committee include Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, among others. (RELATED: Establishment Republicans Rear Their Ugly Heads In Opposition To Trump’s Biggest Win Yet)

“I’m very happy that USAID – as we know it – will no longer exist,” Graham told the Caller. A spokesperson for the senator told the Caller that Graham is not lobbying to keep USAID and that he supports consolidating the agency under the State Department’s control.

McConnell’s office did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.

Even after extensive reviews and plans to cut certain programs by staff, Rubio would sometimes swoop in afterwards to object to certain cuts after lobbying from the Senate, sources said. 

A State Department official told the Caller that they were “not sure where this is coming from” and pointed to a March statement from the Department on the work they’re doing to end USAID by September. The official said the DOGE team has worked alongside the department without conflict and cuts are proceeding as planned, and any confusion about that is “categorically false.”

However, sources told the Caller the tension begins with DOGE and Rubio.

Two sources told the Caller that Rubio was not keen to directly oversee the gutting of USAID when pressed by Elon Musk and DOGE. Pete Marocco was thus brought in to lead the charge to eliminate the agency, working with DOGE, the sources added. 

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Marocco was no longer at the State Department and a senior State Department official relayed the same information to the Caller.

🧵WSJ: “Marocco learned that his time at the State Dept was coming to an end late last week, acc. to a person close to him. After a meeting at the White House, Marocco was told by State Dept officials he was out at the agency

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) April 14, 2025

“President Trump is keeping his promises to the American people. I am absolutely confident he will achieve his agenda of making America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” Marocco told the Caller in a statement.

“President Trump and his team are extremely grateful for the work of Pete Marocco, who accomplished his mission to fix America’s long-broken foreign assistance enterprise,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told the Caller. “His work carried out many of the President’s priorities to eliminate waste and restore accountability to taxpayers, and he will continue to be a welcome figure in the President’s movement to Make America Great Again.”

In recent days, some members of the team working on cutting USAID moved out of the State Department building and into the USAID building, or called out of work sick, due to concerns that they couldn’t do their job unimpeded at State. Some have moved while contemplating if there is still enough opportunity to implement the president’s agenda, and feel they need a safe place to work without fear of surveillance.

One administration official identified State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce as a likely next target to be ousted from the department. Bruce’s appointment raised eyebrows earlier this year due to past statements she had made that were critical of Rubio. A State Department official declined to comment on this matter. 

The official also rejected the idea that Rubio or his staff are being swayed by lobbying from the Senate.

“Secretary Rubio … is the Secretary of State for the President of the United States,” the State Department official added.

Dylan Housman contributed to this report.