Bill Gates accuses Elon Musk of "killing the world's poorest children" with DOGE cuts
Seattle, Washington - Billionaire Bill Gates has harshly criticized Elon Musk for ordering cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – and made some bold allegations about the damage he's doing.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Gates slammed the massive cuts to foreign aid that Musk has made as head of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," Gates said.
He went on to note that the cuts included cancelling grants provided to Gaza and Mozambique to help prevent the spread of HIV from mothers to babies, an initiative that Musk has falsely claimed was used to send condoms to the regions.
"I'd love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money," Gates added.
Gates' comments come after he recently announced his non-profit organization, The Gates Foundation, plans to spend more than $200 billion on its public health mission before shutting down in 2045.
On Thursday, Musk responded to an X post that featured a clip of Gates claiming "DOGE will cost two million lives" during a CBS News interview.
"Gates is a huge liar," Musk wrote.
Bill Gates doubles down on his criticism of Elon Musk
Immediately after taking on the role as DOGE lead, Musk took aim at USAID, publicly decrying it as a "criminal organization" that is involved in "rogue CIA work" and "internet censorship." He has since used his power to fire the majority of the agency's workforce and permanently close its headquarters.
On Thursday evening, during an interview with comedian Stephen Colbert, Gates doubled down on his criticism, arguing he is "not even sure the administration understands what is going on in the field" as, for the first time in 25 years, "we have more children dying."
"Instead of it going down, it's now going up. And unless we reverse pretty quickly, that will be over a million additional deaths," Gates added.
Cover photo: Collage: Brendan SMIALOWSKI & Arun SANKAR / AFP