Questions have arisen about whether USAID programs that Marco Rubio was pressured by former Senate colleagues to protect were used to fund NGO activity and the organization of “No Kings Day.”

Independent journalists have traced several USAID partners that were slated for de-funding to “No Kings Day”. These include the National Endowment for Democracy which Elon Musk publicly characterized as an ‘evil organization that needs to be dissolved’ and that is “rife with corruption”, the National Democratic Institute and World Wildlife Fund among others.

Independent journalist Data Republican (@datarepublican) first broke the list of NGOs and non-profits with ties to “No Kings Day” and other far-left agitator events and riots. The Dallas Express confirmed with well-placed administration sources speaking on-background that these organizations have received USAID funding this year and/or continue to have USAID-funded programs.

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Internal State Department battles over which USAID-funded programs and partners should be cut were well-publicized in mid-April, including here at DX. The disagreements between Elon Musk’s DOGE team and Marco Rubio’s team were, ironically, the start of the frayed relationship tension between Trump and Musk. DX‘s own sources claim that Rubio was pressured by former Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to save many of the USAID programs and partnerships that were cut or scheduled to be sunset, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute.

The Washington Post recently reported that although the break between Musk and Trump only exploded into public view on Thursday, cracks in the alliance began to appear much earlier. As Musk’s “move fast and break things” bravado complicated the White House’s ambitions to remake American society, the billionaire alienated key members of the White House staff, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and quarreled with Cabinet members, even reportedly coming to physical blows with one. First-hand DX sources confirmed this rumor, which has been swirling around social media.

Wiles is also known to be a fierce Rubio loyalist.

The dispute between Musk and Rubio ultimately led directly to the reassignment of Pete Maracco, who led the dismantlement of USAID from the inauguration until he was reassigned in mid-April, a story DX covered at that time. ‘Pete was brought to State with a big mission—to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance,’ a senior administration official said at the time.

‘He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars.’

Reports also suggest the ties between remaining USAID funding and the support domestic agitators, riots and demonstrations—channeled through an international money laundering network dependent on U.S. taxpayer money—are a closely guarded secret.

Independent X journalist Mike Benz (@mikebenzcyper) has detailed how USAID international partners have specialized in organizing riots and have actively blocked the CIA’s top analyst and Congress from asking questions about connections between USAID funding and its international partners’ involvement in domestic riots and protests.

The Dallas Express will continue to investigate this story and the ties between USAID funding and various nationwide demonstrations and riots.