President Donald Trump is weighing possible criminal charges against U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers after an explosive investigation by The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed severe abuse of foreign aid programs.<\/p>\n
Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee were briefed Wednesday by Pete Marocco, USAID\u2019s deputy administrator-designate, on findings from the ongoing review of the agency\u2019s spending and operations under Trump\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n
The meeting on Capitol Hill was intended to provide an update on the review of foreign aid policies implemented under President Trump. In his discussions with lawmakers, Marocco indicated that the review, influenced by revelations from Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE initiative, may lead to criminal referrals concerning misconduct at the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently, there\u2019s still judicial action that has even come out as late as this morning,\u201d Rep. Keith Self, (R-TX), who attended the meeting, told DailyMail in an interview. \u201cThey intend to refer USAID officials to DOJ,\u201d he shared, highlighting that fraud \u201cis a criminal act.\u201d<\/p>\n
The congressman noted that Pete Marocco did not rule out the possibility that both USAID employees and those receiving grants could be implicated in criminal activities. \u201cIf they are detecting outright fraud, not just bad programs, not just ignoble programs, not just programs that don\u2019t support the national interest of the United States, if they\u2019re finding fraud, then, absolutely,\u201d the perpetrators should face prosecution, Self said.<\/p>\n
Self stressed that Marocco and USAID would only discuss their plans for criminal recommendations if they had a robust \u2018paper trail.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to have a paper trail to prove that,\u201d Self added. \u201cAnd I doubt that they would refer anyone without a very strong paper trail.\u201d An additional source present at the meeting also spoke to DailyMail, confirming the gravity of the allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarocco briefed the full House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrats and Republicans, that the waste, fraud, and abuse at USAID was more severe than initially presumed,\u201d the second source revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told lawmakers that multiple referrals to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution were being considered,\u201d they continued. \u201cThe conduct in question arose because of USAID\u2019s decentralized accountability system that often left grantees on the ground using American tax dollars in ways that were both inappropriate and potentially illegal,\u201d the source disclosed.<\/p>\n
USAID has been undergoing a dramatic transformation following intervention by DOGE. The department, aimed at reducing government inefficiencies, has already initiated sweeping changes that have disrupted USAID\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
Several high-ranking officials, including the agency\u2019s security director, have been placed on administrative leave, and the agency\u2019s website has been taken offline. Programs focused on democracy-building and free speech initiatives have been significantly scaled back or put on hold.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision, declined to overturn a lower court ruling that unfroze federal spending contracts at USAID, frustrating conservatives who saw it as a blow to President Trump. The ruling rejected Trump\u2019s request to keep billions in aid payments frozen while the administration audits them for waste and fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to have a paper trail to prove that,\u201d Self added. \u201cAnd I doubt that they would refer anyone without a very strong paper trail.\u201d An additional source present at the meeting also spoke to DailyMail, confirming the gravity of the allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarocco briefed the full House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrats and Republicans, that the waste, fraud, and abuse at USAID was more severe than initially presumed,\u201d the second source revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told lawmakers that multiple referrals to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution were being considered,\u201d they continued. \u201cThe conduct in question arose because of USAID\u2019s decentralized accountability system that often left grantees on the ground using American tax dollars in ways that were both inappropriate and potentially illegal,\u201d the source disclosed.<\/p>\n
USAID has been undergoing a dramatic transformation following intervention by DOGE. The department, aimed at reducing government inefficiencies, has already initiated sweeping changes that have disrupted USAID\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
Several high-ranking officials, including the agency\u2019s security director, have been placed on administrative leave, and the agency\u2019s website has been taken offline. Programs focused on democracy-building and free speech initiatives have been significantly scaled back or put on hold.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision, declined to overturn a lower court ruling that unfroze federal spending contracts at USAID, frustrating conservatives who saw it as a blow to President Trump. The ruling rejected Trump\u2019s request to keep billions in aid payments frozen while the administration audits them for waste and fraud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Donald Trump is weighing possible criminal charges against U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers after an explosive investigation by The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed severe abuse of foreign aid programs. Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee were briefed Wednesday by Pete Marocco, USAID\u2019s deputy administrator-designate, on findings from the ongoing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n