All posts tagged "Usaid"

A Nobel laureate held the world's richest man Elon Musk responsible for the deaths of millions of children in a scathing takedown.

Renowned economist Paul Krugman called Musk "a horrible, terrible person" in a recent episode of his podcast. Krugman mostly focused on Musk's cuts to USAID while in the Trump administration.

"For most of last year, Elon Musk was the second most powerful man in America," Krugman explained. "He was running a large part of the government's budget, and during that time, he established a track record of evil incompetence."...

Reactions mounted Friday after news that the White House defended using funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide security for Russell Vought, the architect of Project 2025.

President Donald Trump had named Vought the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and a new Reuters report found that the Trump administration had redirected $15 million in funds from USAID, which had been decimated by Vought, to his security detail. More than one dozen U.S. Marshals were assigned to protect Vought, a source familiar with the arrangement told Reuters.

Social media users reacted to the White House's move. ...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio celebrated the end of operations for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday with a Substack article titled, "Making Foreign Aid Great Again."

USAID was the nation's largest foreign aid agency with funding that went toward combatting mortality rates from diseases like AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as nutritional deficiencies and maternal mortality. It was one of the very first agencies targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

According to CNN, a "new analysis finds that its closure could contribute to some 14 million deaths in the next five years," painting "a potentially catastrophic picture of what could come now that USAID has been dismantled and the [Trump] administration is turning away from a lot of these foreign assistance funds."...

Marco Rubio is being viewed with suspicion by Trump loyalists after he fired MAGA acolyte Pete Marocco from the State Department where Marocco worked to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to reporting in Politico.

Reasons for the firing ranged from Marocco's "bulldozer operating style and failure to work effectively with colleagues" to "substantive disagreements between Rubio and Marocco over how to dismantle USAID," wrote reporters Dasha Burns and Nahal Toosi.

President Donald Trump’s loyalists viewed Marocco "as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers," and were reportedly shocked by the firing. "Loud voices on the right piled on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing him of undermining their disruptive agenda," the report said....

Attorney Norm Eisen, who served as White House ethics czar under former President Barack Obama and is at the center of multiple lawsuits challenging Donald Trump, scoffed at the president pulling his security clearance for "the third time" — and chalked it up to retaliation for Trump losing a string of lawsuits since he took office.

CNN's Kate Bolduan introduced Eisen Monday, saying, "The president moved to revoke security clearances of another round of high profile people, including the Biden family, Kamala Harris, the former secretary of state Tony Blinken — and you, Norm. What was your reaction when you heard about this?"

ALSO READ: The new guy in charge of USAID doesn't believe in foreign aid...

Donald Trump's brashness may have helped win him the presidency, but his words are being used against him as his administration fights a growing number of lawsuits against efforts to enact his agenda, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

"Nowhere has this been clearer than in cases involving his adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency," wrote reporters Chris Megerian and Lindsay Whitehurst.

They cited a recent case revolving around whether Musk overstepped his authority when tearing down USAID, the agency that provides financial assistance "to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms."...