‘Trump is Dug in Like a Tick, Dems are Screaming Like Musk Stole Their Dog’: Senator Kennedy [WATCH]

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said on Friday that Democrats are attacking Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Co-Chairman Elon Musk to divert attention from excessive spending at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Trump administration recently announced plans to lay off over 95% of USAID’s workforce, according to a report by The New York Times on Thursday.

Kennedy asserted that despite opposition, President Donald Trump has the authority to review executive branch spending and that he has delegated that responsibility to Musk.

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During an interview on The Story with Martha MacCallum, Kennedy stated that Trump was following through on his campaign promise to audit federal spending.

“I was paying especially close attention to what the president had to say about reviewing spending. I think it would be fair to say President Trump is dug in like a tick,” Kennedy said.

“He’s going to continue. He ran on this issue and said, ‘If I am elected president, I would review the spending.’ Now, I don’t know how you review the spending without reviewing the spending.”

Kennedy emphasized that Trump, as president, has the authority to oversee how federal funds are used.

“No fair-minded person can doubt the president of the United States has the authority to review the spending in the executive branch. He has delegated that authority to Elon Musk.”

Trump appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as co-chairs of DOGE on Nov. 12, 2024.

Ramaswamy left the position on Jan. 20, 2025, and is reportedly planning a run for governor of Ohio in 2026.

Kennedy argued that Democrats are attempting to discredit Musk to prevent the public from focusing on the findings of the USAID audit.

“A lot of my Democratic colleagues and most of the members of the tofu crowd are very upset. They’re screaming like Musk stole their dog or something,” Kennedy said.

“But one thing they are not talking about is what Mr. Musk is finding. Just at the USAID, he found hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars’ worth of spending porn.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision to drastically reduce USAID’s workforce during a press conference in El Salvador on Monday, stating that his concerns about USAID’s lack of accountability date back to his time in Congress.

He described the agency as “completely unresponsive” and “not functioning” as intended.

Similarly, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said during a Feb. 3 discussion with Musk and Ramaswamy on X that USAID officials had threatened her after she sought information about humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Conservative lawmakers have long criticized USAID for directing taxpayer money toward left-wing social programs and controversial projects.

The agency has been linked to EcoHealth Alliance, which helped fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

It also provided funding for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an outlet whose reporting was cited in the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Additional USAID expenditures include:

• $45 million in grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) scholarships in Burma
• $21 million for renewable electricity projects in Lebanon, according to The Washington Times
• Millions in funding for Palestinian projects, with concerns that some of the money may have been accessed by Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel

Trump’s executive order freezing most foreign aid programs while the administration reevaluates spending priorities has garnered strong public support.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that 56% of respondents support the decision.

With the administration moving forward with major reforms at USAID and other agencies, the battle over federal spending and government accountability is expected to continue.

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