A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk must sit for a deposition to answer questions about his role in dismantling USAID, rejecting his legal team's attempt to avoid questioning under the apex doctrine.
Musk Deposition Ordered By Federal Judge
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang issued an eight-page order requiring Musk, along with former acting USAID director Peter Marocco and State Department official Jeremy Lewin, to be deposed, reported Business Insider.
Musk's attorneys had argued that as a high-ranking official, he could skip a deposition under the apex doctrine, but the judge disagreed.
USAID Staff Cuts Under Scrutiny
Chuang noted that it was unclear whether Musk and the others were "properly deemed to be high-ranking government officials" during the period when USAID was dismantled.
He added that they failed to provide evidence explaining why the agency's headquarters and website were shut down.
The lawsuit, filed by anonymous current and former USAID employees, challenges the decisions made by Musk and DOGE officials, the initiative responsible for the cuts.
Other defendants include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, State Department official Kenneth Jackson, and DOGE administrator Amy Gleason.
Musk’s Legal, Ukraine Starlink Controversies
Last year, Musk and Sam Altman's feud escalated when Musk accused OpenAI of theft, following Altman's post about canceling a Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) order.
Altman defended the nonprofit structure and reminded Musk he had once suggested Tesla take over OpenAI.
Musk later shared a summary of Ilya Sutskever's October 2025 deposition, alleging Altman created executive divisions and failed to dismiss key researchers, highlighting preexisting leadership rifts.
At the same time, USAID faced criticism for failing to monitor 5,175 Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine.
An internal report found nearly half ended up in Russian-controlled areas. The agency accepted higher misuse risks due to wartime conditions but failed to fully mitigate them.
USAID partnered with SpaceX to deliver 1,508 purchased and 3,667 donated terminals, though the report did not examine whether they were used for military purposes.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
