White House Releases List of USAID 'Waste and Abuse' on Everything from Al Qaeda to Trans Operas
The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to gut and largely dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after exposing that the agency has wasted millions of dollars to fund an array of questionable projects like sex changes, LGBT activism, a "DEI musical," a transgender opera, and birth control around the globe.
USAID had overseen foreign aid and humanitarian projects but is now facing a near-total staffing reduction in part due to "waste and abuse" of taxpayers' dollars.
"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," said the White House. "Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW."
So far, less than 300 of the agency's 13,000 workers reportedly remain. The situation is fluid, but as CBN News reported, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated earlier this week that the remaining elements of the agency were being placed under State Department authority.
Rubio stated that USAID leaders had refused to cooperate with the President of the United States and had failed to answer questions about funding. "And that sort of level of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct the sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid writ large, should have," Rubio said.
Unions representing agency workers are now suing the Trump administration, contending that Congress is the only institution that can dissolve USAID.
"These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests," the lawsuit, filed in a Washington D.C. federal court on Thursday evening, contends.
The unions are asking the courts to block staff cuts and restore funding.
Many Americans, though, went on social media to thank the Trump administration and Elon Musk who has been tasked with cutting wasteful government spending, for exposing what some have called "the biggest scam ever on the American taxpayer."
Musk, a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) adviser, posted on X saying the agency was "beyond repair" and was "a viper's nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America."
Details Released About Wasteful Spending at USAID
As CBN News reported this week, U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the press what USAID has been funding.
She said, "These are some of the insane priorities that that organization has been spending money on:
- $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces.
- $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland.
- $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia.
- $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.
That was just the tip of the iceberg.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) published another list of projects and programs she says the agency has funded over the years until DOGE stepped in.
"From funneling tax dollars to risky research in Wuhan to sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, USAID is one of the worst offenders of waste in Washington… all around the world," Ernst posted to X this week.
The Iowa senator gave more detail in a thread noting the organization spent millions on wasteful projects including:
- "A whopping $20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq
- $2 million for Moroccan pottery classes and promotion
- $2 million promoting tourism to Lebanon
- More than $9 million of USAID's 'humanitarian aid' intended to feed civilians in Syria ended up in the hands of violent terrorists, including an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Iraq."
Ernst points out that millions of dollars were sent to farmers in Afghanistan to get them to grow food crops instead of opium.
"The results: opium poppy cultivation across the country nearly doubled, according to the U.N.," Ernst wrote.
"USAID has long been a reckless, out-of-control, unaccountable rogue agency," she concluded. "USAID has failed to put the American people first and routinely tried to cloak its actions in secrecy. Those days are over."
A White House fact sheet also contends that American taxpayer dollars were inadvertently used to fund terrorism.
It notes:
- As much as $10 million was used by an al Qaeda-linked group for meals.
- $78,000 to a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations including Pakistan's Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation — even after an inspector general launched an investigation.
- $15 million in taxpayer funds to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to help distribute 'oral contraceptives and condoms.'
The fact sheet lists millions of dollars in additional wasteful spending, including:
- $6 million was used to fund tourism in Egypt
- $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
- $1.5 million to 'advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities.'
The exhaustive list of "egregious waste" continues as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently pointed out that USAID "spent a million dollars to help disabled people in Tajikistan become climate leaders."
"If you are a left-wing radical activist this is music to your ears, but if you are just an American taxpayer it is horrifying, which is why President Trump came in and said enough is enough," Cruz said.
Critics Say Some USAID Programs Are Essential
Critics of dismantling the agency say millions relying on U.S. foreign aid are now at risk. Andrew Natsios, former USAID director under George W. Bush, says it could also put Americans in danger.
"You have to stop the disease in the country – the early warning system for the world is the art of the aid missions in the field. There are 90 programs that aides work with Ministries of Health to set up data collection systems for disease so we know what's going on. That's all shutting down. Now it's all shutting down. The immunization programs are shutting down. The HIV AIDS programs are shutting down. It is madness to do this," he said.
Natsios agrees that changes under a new president are expected but he says they should be implemented without shutting down an entire agency.
"I took over AID in 2001... I had a committee to go through all of the aid projects, every single one, and we eliminated dozens of projects that were, frankly, completely inconsistent with what President Bush wanted to do. I knew President Bush very well, and I knew what he wanted and what he did not want. We eliminated those programs within two months," he said.
Americans Voice Their Outrage
Americans are taking to social media platforms expressing shock and anger over the waste but also a sigh of relief because it's being stopped.
"Imagine paying $20,000 to the government every year. That's the average tax bill for an American—months of hard work, maybe half your paycheck. Now imagine an entire year of your labor being spent on a transgender comic book in Peru," said "citizen journalist" Mario Nawfal.
"100 people's entire yearly tax payments funded sex-change surgeries in Guatemala. 300 years of taxpayer work? Spent on boosting Egypt's tourism," he continued. "The more you dig and understand how much time and effort it takes to raise that kind of money, the worse it gets."
He concluded, "This isn't just waste—it's a lifetime of effort burned on nonsense. Still think your taxes work for you? Are you okay with all that?"
THE GOVERNMENT IS WASTING YEARS OF YOUR LIFE: USAID IS WORSE THAN YOU THINK
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 7, 2025
Imagine paying $20,000 to the government every year. That’s the average tax bill for an American—months of hard work, maybe half your paycheck.
Now imagine an entire year of your labor being spent… https://t.co/cxFhPMOpyO pic.twitter.com/Doj7IfzHDd
Others are demanding more answers.
"The amount of corruption is unraveling so fast. Keep the throttle down," one user wrote.
"This is a clear example of how misguided foreign policy and wasteful spending can have disastrous consequences, empowering our enemies instead of helping those in need," another user wrote. "The fact that millions of dollars meant for humanitarian aid ended up with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda is unacceptable and demands accountability from our government and its agencies."
