USAID Inspector General ousted after criticizing Trump’s aid cuts – CNN
Photo: USAID inspector fired after criticizing Trump (Getty Images)
The Inspector General of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been dismissed. This occurred the day after his office published a report criticizing the Trump administration’s actions to dismantle the agency, CNN reports.
According to the report, the deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel informed Paul Martin via email that his authority as USAID Inspector General had been terminated, effective immediately.
A USAID Office of the Inspector General spokesperson confirmed Martin’s dismissal, stating that no official reason was provided. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Under US law, the administration must notify Congress 30 days before dismissing an Inspector General and provide a specific reason for their removal.
Martin had served as Inspector General since December 2023. While Donald Trump dismissed Inspectors General from over a dozen federal agencies in his first week in office, the USAID watchdog remained in place.
The Inspector General’s role involves conducting investigations and audits into potential misconduct, fraud, waste, or abuse within the agency and its personnel, as well as issuing reports and recommendations.
Sources told CNN that the USAID Inspector General staff had also been informed that they no longer had access to their physical office space. Although the Trump administration shut down USAID’s Washington headquarters last week, the oversight office staff members had been allowed to work in person at the same location until Tuesday.
USAID report
In a report published on Monday, the Inspector General’s Office stated that the Trump administration’s staffing cuts at USAID and the broad freeze on foreign aid had hindered efforts to track and respond to potential misuse of $8.2 billion in humanitarian assistance funded by US taxpayers.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has taken aggressive steps to dismantle USAID, attempting to place thousands of direct-hire USAID employees on leave and terminate dozens of contractors working at the agency. Last Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked these efforts, halting the forced deportation of USAID personnel from countries around the world.
While the Inspector General’s report acknowledged long-standing concerns about fraud, waste, and abuse in USAID programs, it explicitly stated that staffing cuts and aid freezes had negatively impacted oversight efforts.
On January 21, President Donald Trump announced a three-month suspension of all foreign aid programs, citing the need to review them for alignment with his foreign policy objectives. Shortly thereafter, USAID’s Ukraine office also suspended its projects and funding.
For more details, see RBC-Ukraine’s report: "USAID on hold: Why billions in US aid to Ukraine have been frozen and what it means."
