Elon Musk will have to sit for a deposition for lawyers to examine his role in dismantling USAID, a Maryland judge ruled.
In an eight-page order released on Tuesday, US District Judge Theodore Chuang rejected a request from Musk and officials linked to the Department of Government Efficiency to forgo a deposition.
It ordered him, along with former acting USAID director Peter Marocco and Department of State official Jeremy Lewin, to be deposed. Musk’s legal team had tried to use the “apex doctrine” to avoid the deposition, a rule that allows high-ranking government officials to avoid depositions in some situations.
The deposition is part of a lawsuit against Musk and DOGE officials, filed by current and terminated USAID employees, who remain anonymous.
Chuang said that it was unclear whether Musk, Marocco, and Lewin were “properly deemed to be high-ranking government officials.”
He said most of the designated heads of the project were operating in informal or acting roles during the time when USAID was dismantled.
In the filing, Chuang added that Musk and the other officials failed to provide evidence as to why they chose to shut down the USAID headquarters and website, another reason the deposition was necessary.
The filing also listed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Kenneth Jackson, a state department official, and Amy Gleason, a DOGE administrator, as defendants in the case.
USAID, the US Agency for International Development, distributes foreign aid and supports humanitarian causes globally. It was the top target for Musk-led DOGE at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term last January.
USAID cuts were part of Musk’s efforts to slash spending on government agencies that DOGE deemed wasteful. In February last year, USAID officials announced that the agency would cut its staff from 10,000 to just 300, furloughing the rest.
Musk stepped back from DOGE in May.
Representatives for Musk, USAID, and the Department of State did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
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