Trump administration firing 2,000 USAid workers and putting thousands on leave

Flowers and a sign outside the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development, or USAid, in Washington (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

The Trump administration said on Sunday that it was placing all but a fraction of staffers at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on leave worldwide and eliminating 2,000 US-based staff positions.

The move was the latest and one of the biggest steps yet toward what US President Donald Trump and cost-cutting ally Elon Musk say is their goal of gutting the six-decade-old aid and development agency in a broader campaign to slash the size of the federal government.