Elon Musk let slip that his Department of Government Efficiency accidentally canceled Ebola prevention when the tech billionaire cut funding to the United States Agency for International Development.
The tech billionaire spoke at Donald Trump's first Cabinet meeting Wednesday, where he discussed DOGE's cuts to the federal workforce. He conceded that his team would likely make mistakes, but pledged to quickly correct them as he seeks to dramatically reduce the federal budget.
"We will make mistakes," he told the Cabinet. "We won't be perfect, but when we make a mistake, we'll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention, so we restored the Ebola prevention immediately."
Critics said the admission should be considered a scandal that Congress ought to investigate.
"This is a stunning admission that should by itself trigger a Congressional investigation, if we had a Congress," said the popular Bluesky account Internet Hippo.
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"No democrat should vote for anything in Congress until Musk is fired and all the federal funding he zeroed out on a whim is restored," added Kelsey Atherton, of the Center for International Policy. "We simply cannot have a democracy when the Executive's zonked-out Vizier moves fast and breaks things he doesn't understand, which is all things, because he's stupid."
"Elon Musk, who calls millions of US federal workers 'incompetent,' says he 'accidentally canceled' Ebola prevention," said writer Adam Schultz.
"Elon is confirming what the WHO told @statnews weeks ago: USAID cuts had an impact on outbreak response on the ground," added STAT editor Jason Ukman.
“'We restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption,' Elon says, flat-out lying to the president’s face," said X user Max Siegal, pointing to a report that shows the funding remains frozen.
"He laughs about it. It's also unclear how he has the legal authority to cancel any spending authorized by Congress," posted journalist Judd Legum.
"Measure twice, cut once," joked actor Diedrich Bader. "Or just set your shop on fire."
"Old enough to remember conservatives absolutely s---ing themselves over even the slightest possibility ebola could hit the US," added the Bluesky account Hellscape Navigator.
"Every day, people who work in FAR LESS high-stakes jobs, stress themselves out bc they want to avoid making mistakes that might negatively impact others," said Bluesky user Maraki Zee. "People take years off their lives from work related anxiety and develop real health issues. And this MFer chuckles like it’s a whoopsie. Enraging!"
"We accidentally fired the guys who take care of nukes," said Don Moynihan, policy professor at the University of Michigan. "We also canned the guys who overlook plane safety. And we continue to stop life-saving aid from getting to the most vulnerable people in the world."