Trump plan eyes drastic USAid staff cut

What we're seeing is an unlawful seizure of this agency by the Trump administration in a plain violation of basic constitutional principles.

Robin Thurston, the legal director for Democracy Forward, one of two advocacy organizations that filed the lawsuit said

USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable

Trump wrote earlier on his Truth Social

It was like from a horror film'

The staffer said

There is no bottom to this stupidity,

a separate USAID staffer told the public broadcaster

Your tax dollars should be spent on America or the government should just tax you less,

he wrote on X on Tuesday

Rustem Umerovdefense Minister

The Ukrainian sky is becoming more secure!”

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in a statement

But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,

he told reporters

Marco Rubiosecretary of State

USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that there's somehow a global charity separate from the national interest,

Rubio said

J. Brian Atwoodunited States Under Secretary of State

A lot of people will not survive,

said Atwood, now a senior fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute

When the US pulls away, it's not clear what those other countries will do there'll be a collective action problem

Powers added

Mark Moyarformer usaid official

Meanwhile, they come after me and try to accuse me of publishing classified information and use that as a pretext to have me fired,

Moya said

Mark Moyarformer usaid official

So I think we're going to find a great amount of waste, fraud and abuse, especially because the Inspector General, I think, has been asleep at the wheel,

Moyar said

Mark Moyarformer usaid official

A lot of them were beholden or had ties to the previous administration, the Obama administration, [and] the large majority of them had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016,

Mark Moyar, who worked in the department from 2018 to 2019, said

Most other countries look at this DEI stuff and say, ‘This is crazy,

he said

It's heavily ironic that you see Jamie Raskin and others speaking in these constitutional terms when, functionally, USAID has been operating outside congressional oversight and specific appropriations as to what they are doing for decades,

added Howell

I think everyone in the world knows exactly what USAID is, no matter what part of the political spectrum they are on,

Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, told the Washington Examiner, echoing the White House’s critiques

Every (diplomatic) mission has a certain amount of budget that they get from headquarters to spend on these things, and since this was unplanned, no one’s clear on where the money is actually going to come from and how it’s going to be paid for,

he explained

I cannot say for sure whether they [the embassy] are responsible for my safety and evacuation, if needed,

a USAID contractor posted in a dangerous location echoed

My scary panic button appears to be working, but I have not yet confirmed with security — the app is tied to my USAID email which is deactivated,

they told CNN, noting they have heard from colleagues in other hotspots

With my contracting arrangement, I’m responsible for paying my hotel bill (at a hotel I am obliged to stay at) and expenses and seeking reimbursement and per diem thereafter — due to the uncertainty around my contract status, I am unsure if and how I will be able to seek reimbursement,

the USAID official in a dangerous location said