White House releases facts of millions of dollars worth of USAID waste and abuse
The administration of US President Donald Trump has accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of misusing funds and financing dubious projects around the world.
This is stated in a press release from the White House, Censor.NET reports.
"For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight," the White House said.
The White House has published a list of projects that, in its assessment, indicate large-scale waste and abuse at USAID.
In particular, the list includes:
- USD 2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam;
- USD 6 million for tourism development in Egypt;
- hundreds of thousands of dry rations - which, according to the White House, have been distributed to militants affiliated with al-Qaeda in Syria;
- hundreds of millions of dollars for agricultural projects in Afghanistan, which the administration claims contributed to poppy cultivation and heroin production used by the Taliban;
- USD 2 million for gender identity programmes and LGBT activism in Guatemala.
"Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW," the White House said.
USAID
To recap, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the suspension of foreign aid grants.
Subsequently, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ukraine received an order to suspend all projects and expenditures on them.
On Saturday, 1 February, the official USAID website stopped working. When users try to access it, they see a message that the server IP address cannot be found.
US billionaire Elon Musk, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), accused the US Agency for International Development (USAID) of funding research into "biological weapons, including COVID-19".
3 February 2025 the headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is closed in Washington, DC. Employees were sent notification letters by email.
Afterwards, Marco Rubio announced that he was now acting head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
