(José Niño, Headline USA) Donald Trump’s mission to gut USAID is exposing fault lines inside the State Department, pitting loyalists against moderates and testing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s allegiance to the president’s agenda.
The State Department is reportedly split between officials loyal to President Trump and those aligned with moderate Republican senators resistant to deep cuts to USAID, according to the Daily Caller.
Rubio has faced pressure from former Senate colleagues to preserve parts of the agency and was initially reluctant to lead its dismantling when asked by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), multiple Trump administration sources told the outlet.
“[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 informed the Daily Caller. “They don’t even flinch when the President issues an executive order. To the contrary, it’s as though it never happened.”
Mike Needham, who previously served as Rubio’s Chief of Staff in the Senate, now holds the same position at the State Department, with Dan Holler as his deputy.
A second Trump administration official described Needham as a key intermediary between Senate Republicans opposing USAID cuts and Rubio himself.
According to one source, several senators have personal or political stakes in preserving USAID-funded pet projects, which has fueled their lobbying efforts. The official suggested that Rubio may be sympathetic to preserving select programs, potentially as a way to revive the agency in the future.
Among those applying pressure are members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, including Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who have reportedly succeeded in tempering some of the proposed cuts.
“I’m very happy that USAID – as we know it – will no longer exist,” Graham said to the Daily Caller.
A spokesperson for the South Carolina Senator told the Daily Caller that he is not lobbying to preserve USAID and “supports consolidating the agency under the State Department’s control.”
Despite detailed reviews and staff efforts to phase out specific programs, sources said Rubio has occasionally intervened to reverse or block certain cuts after pressure from the Senate.
A State Department official, however, pushed back on that narrative, telling the Daily Caller they were “not sure where this is coming from.”
The official alluded to a March statement outlining plans to scale back USAID by September. The official emphasized that the DOGE team has worked collaboratively with the department and that any suggestion of internal conflict is “categorically false.”
Still, multiple sources told the Daily Caller that the friction appears to stem from tensions between DOGE and Rubio.
Two sources told the Daily Caller that Rubio was hesitant to personally oversee the dismantling of USAID when urged by Elon Musk and DOGE. As a result, Pete Marocco was brought in to spearhead the effort in coordination with DOGE as the director for the Office of Foreign Assistance, the sources said.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Marocco is no longer with the State Department.
“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 Daily Caller in a statement.
In recent days, several staffers involved in the USAID drawdown have either moved from the State Department building to the USAID offices or taken sick leave, citing concerns about being unable to carry out their work without interference. Some are reconsidering their positions, questioning whether they can continue advancing the president’s agenda in an environment they believe is subject to excessive surveillance.
A State Department official also dismissed claims that Rubio or his team are being influenced by Senate lobbying.
“Secretary Rubio … is the Secretary of State for the President of the United States,” the State Department official underscored.
Tensions between Musk and the Rubio factions have been a theme in the early stages of the second Trump administration. Headline USA has previously reported that Musk previously clashed with Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over federal staffing cuts.
Whether Trump’s team can overcome internal resistance and fully dismantle USAID remains to be seen, but tensions seem to be coming to a head.
