Pulling apart truths from misinformation in today’s political climate is like carefully tugging delicate strands of cheese from a cheese stick. Hopefully, these few minutes together will help clear up some of the confusion regarding the accusations of corruption within USAID.
Because there are a plethora of accusations, I’m focusing specifically on Sen. Ted Cruz’s statement recently listing eight examples of 'Waste, Fraud And Abuse' at USAID:
$1.5 million used to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces
Yes, an LGBTQ advocacy organization in Serbia — a country that fares poorly compared with other European countries on measures of LGBTQ rights, according to data from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights — hosted a three-year program aimed at improving the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the workplace.
From February 2023 to October 2024, USAID committed to spending about $1.5 million — in three roughly $500,000 installments — to support the program.
At a program conference in September 2023, mission director for USAID in Serbia, Brooke Isham, said, “At USAID, we know that inclusive development is important for driving economic growth and also for creating a healthier democracy.”
$2 million for sex changes in Guatemala
According to Snopes, in 2024, USAID awarded a $2 million grant to an LGBTQ+ rights organization in Guatemala called Asociación Lambda. That grant was issued to "strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming health care, advocate to improve quality and access to services, and provide economic empowerment opportunities." However, the grant's description says the money went to more than gender-affirming health care. Additionally, gender-affirming health care includes much more than surgeries — it also includes puberty-blocking medication, hormonal therapies, mental health care, and speech therapy. Only $350,000 of the allocated $2 million has been given to Asociación Lambda as of this writing.
$6 million for tourism in Egypt
According to the Washington Times, a $6 million award in Egypt referred to a bilateral assistance agreement signed in 2019, under the first Trump administration, that made no mention of promoting tourism. The agreement, instead, sought to “increase educational opportunities and strengthen the livelihoods of the people of North Sinai” and “provide access to transportation for rural communities and economic livelihood programming for families.”
Paying for hundreds of thousands of meals that went to Al Qaeda-affiliated leaders in Syria
According to Fox News, Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who ran the organization’s Syrian division, skimmed as much as $10 million worth of meals funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The meals were supposed to go to Syrian civil war refugees. Mr. Al Hafyan allowed members of the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization, to collect the meals, U.S. investigators said as they unsealed an indictment.
To double-check this, according to The Washington Times, “Americans paid for hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria, federal prosecutors revealed in announcing charges against the nongovernmental organization employee who they say was responsible for the diversion.”
The Washington Post tells us the employee was the head of this NGO and, yes, he diverted $9 million intended for Syrian civilians to combatant groups. He was charged in a 12-count indictment unsealed in November.
Funding for the production of opium in Afghanistan, which chiefly benefited the Taliban
According to The Washington Post, the USAID never intended to support opium poppy cultivation or the Taliban, and in fact, the United States sought to stem it. The White House cites a right-wing news site’s account of a 2018 report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) - whom President Trump recently fired - that found that USAID efforts to fund alternative development projects during George W. Bush administration (2005 to 2008) had failed and left a power vacuum the Taliban took advantage of. “It’s a stretch to now, years later, accuse USAID of helping the Taliban,” the Washington Post tells us.
$1 million to help disabled people in Tajikistan become climate leaders
According to the Washington Free Beacon, “In 2023, Biden’s USAID allocated up to $1 million in taxpayer funds on a project to help disabled people in Tajikistan become "climate leaders," the Free Beacon reported at the time.
The grant notice solicited proposals for a "Disability-Inclusive Climate Action" project in the Central Asian country. The cash was meant to ensure that disabled Tajikistanis were included "in the development of climate change response and mitigation policies."
USAID championed the funding under its 2022-2030 climate strategy, a $150 billion "whole-of-agency approach" that aimed to create an "equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions." The Tajikistan grant was centered on ensuring "that climate action by governments and other actors is informed by and responsive to the unique ideas and contributions of persons with disabilities."
(According to Wikipedia, The Washing Free Beacon is explicitly conservative, and Politico Magazine reported that it is “somewhat grudgingly accepted in liberal circles.”)
$1 million to a Hamas-linked charity
The New York Post says, “A Gaza-based nonprofit tied to the son of a Hamas leader received nearly $1 million in aid from the US government — with one grant arriving less than a week before the Oct. 7 terrorist strikes on Israel, according to a report.
The NGO Bayader for Environment and Development Association has secured $900,000 from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) over seven years.
The most recent grant, for $15,219, was paid out on Oct.1, 2023, six days before the Hamas attacks on Israel which left 1,200 Israelis dead.
Bayader, which works to help children and rehabilitate polluted areas in Gaza, according to its website, is associated with Abdul Salam Haniyeh — a son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who organized the terror attack on Israel, according to a report last week from Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank.
“Hamas keeps an artificial distance between its leadership and these charities exactly so grants such as this USAID money and Islamic Relief funding is made possible,” said Sam Westrop, director of Middle East Forum’s counter-terrorism program. “In practice, however, these charities operate as arms of Hamas, building its infrastructure projects.”
$50 million for contraceptives and condoms in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
The New York Times tells us, “Even after the administration rescinded the order, Mr. Trump repeated the claim days later, doubling the amount to $100 million for good measure.”
CNN tells us, “The White House offered no evidence for this story: President Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, provided no proof for her claim that there was ever a federal plan to spend $50 million on condoms in Gaza. And when CNN asked Leavitt and her colleagues for any evidence, another White House official instead pointed us to comments from the State Department — comments that … did not even repeat Leavitt’s claim of a planned $50 million Gaza condom expenditure, let alone prove the claim.”
Senator Ted Cruz wraps up by claiming the Democrats are over-reacting to Musk’s clearance to gather USAID information and that President Trump is entitled to conduct a full review of federal agency spending.
Whatever you think after reading this, it’s too bad the good programs under USAID are being shunned along with the ones we may deem wasteful or a threat to our national security.
According to Time, “The stop-work order has upended many projects and has seen nurses laid off and clinics closed in more than 25 countries where two-thirds of all child deaths occur globally, said Janeen Madan Keller, policy fellow and deputy director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development.”
Here is a look at just some of USAID’s impact around the world:
Protecting the Amazon rainforest and fighting cocaine in South America
Disease response, girls’ education and free school lunches in Africa
Countering Russian influence
Hospitals in war-ravaged Syria
Wartime help in Ukraine
This just skims the surface.
And I ask why not investigate within Congress to weed out the corruption rather than handing it all over to Musk? This is why Democrats and others are in an uproar; all we want is a democratic process, not Elon Musk running the show.
What will all of these layoffs mean for our nation’s economy? And will these cuts make a difference to the average American’s tax bill? I’m not counting on it, but we’ll find out in the days ahead.
Another great well written piece, thanks for the clarity