Elon Musk isn't just President Donald Trump's biggest financial backer and sidekick in the new administration. He's now putting his stamp on Trump's efforts to completely upend the U.S. government.

Even as Mr Musk was speaking, workers at USAID ’s headquarters in Washington were being told not to come in the next day. Some 600 of the agency’s staff seem to have been locked out of their emails. That followed a weekend in which the agency’s website went offline;

Musk has been granted power by the president to reduce the size of the federal government - but is he silently taking over?