Spanish
In his harshest criticism of the world's richest man, a distinction he once held, Bill Gates accused Elon Musk at least twice last week of “killing” children in the world's poorest countries by cutting foreign aid under the Trump administration.
Mr. Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, attacked Mr. Musk for the actions he has taken as head of President Trump's Department of Governmental Efficiency during interviews with The New York Times Magazine and The Financial Times.
You may be interested in: Trump and Elon Musk, members of the PLD
He said Musk was responsible for dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, a decision that, he said, had undermined decades of progress in the fight against diseases such as measles, HIV, and polio.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Times Magazine last week, Mr. Gates said that Mr. Musk had put USAID in “the wood chipper.”
It was questioned whether Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, would fulfill his commitment to what is known as the Giving Pledge (a non-binding commitment to donate at least half of one's wealth to charity), which Musk signed in 2012.
“He could become a great philanthropist,” Mr. Gates told the magazine. “Meanwhile, the richest man in the world has been implicated in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.”
His criticism coincided with Mr. Gates' announcement that the Gates Foundation, which turned 25 on Thursday, would gradually reduce its work over the next 20 years. He pledged to donate an additional $200 billion to charitable works during that period, which in practice would mean spending his personal fortune.
Mr. Gates used more scathing language in an interview published Thursday by The Financial Times.
“The image of the richest man in the world killing the poorest children in the world is not pretty,” he said.
Representatives for Mr. Musk and DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. The White House also did not respond.
