White House accuses USAID of embezzlement

“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 writes.

The Trump administration has accused USAID of waste and abuse, and provided several pieces of evidence to support this:

• $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
• $70,000 for the production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
• $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam
• $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
• $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
• $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
• $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
• Millions to EcoHealth Alliance which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
• “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
• Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban.

USAID

On January 21, Trump announced the suspension of all foreign aid programs for 90 days to check their compliance with his foreign policy. A couple of days later, an order was issued to terminate all existing foreign aid and issue new ones.

Later, it became known that the USAID office in Ukraine also suspended project management and funding.

Read more about the situation in an RBC-Ukraine article.