What is USAID ? USAID Spending List, Washington, D.C. : A bombshell audit and leaked memos have laid bare the turmoil engulfing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as the Trump administration’s six-week purge—slashing 83% of its programs—triggers a cascade of legal, humanitarian, and operational fallout.
Highlights
- USAID audit reveals $8.2 billion in undisbursed funds amid agency’s abrupt shutdown.
- Trump administration terminates 83% of USAID programs, sparking global aid crisis.
- Federal judge rules Trump overstepped authority, lawsuits pile up over document destruction.
USAID Findings Expose Chaos in Trump-Led Shutdown
Findings released Monday, March 10,
- spotlight $8.2 billion in undisbursed aid,
- oversight failures, and
- allegations of document shredding,
Just as Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasted of the agency’s near-dismantling under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
With lawsuits mounting and a federal judge ruling Trump’s funding freeze unconstitutional, the revelations paint a stark picture of an agency unraveling—and a global aid network teetering—under aggressive U.S. policy shifts.
USAID Spending List – Damning Discoveries Amid the Purge
The USAID collapse, accelerated since Trump’s January 20 executive order freezing foreign aid, has unearthed critical findings that challenge the administration’s narrative of efficiency gains. Key points from audits, memos, and court filings include:
- $1.5 million allocated to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within Serbia’s workplaces and business sectors.
- $70,000 spent on creating a “DEI-themed musical” in Ireland.
- $2.5 million directed toward supplying electric vehicles in Vietnam.
- $47,000 invested in producing a “transgender-focused opera” in Colombia.
- $32,000 used to develop a “transgender comic book” in Peru.
- $2 million provided for gender reassignment surgeries and “LGBT advocacy” in Guatemala.
- $6 million granted to boost Egypt’s tourism industry.
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled to a nonprofit tied to recognized terrorist groups, even following an inspector general’s probe.
- Millions disbursed to EcoHealth Alliance, linked to research at the Wuhan laboratory.
- “Hundreds of thousands of meals delivered to al Qaeda-associated fighters in Syria.”
- Funding allocated to produce “customized” contraceptive devices in developing nations.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on irrigation systems, agricultural tools, and fertilizers in Afghanistan, supporting record poppy growth and heroin production that aids the Taliban.
Legal and Global Ripples
A federal judge’s March 11 ruling declared Trump’s funding freeze an overreach of constitutional authority, ordering $2 billion in owed aid resumed—though the Supreme Court declined to halt it pending appeal. The American Foreign Service Association fears destroyed documents hide the purge’s full scope, fueling lawsuits from contractors stiffed on billions.
Globally, humanitarian groups warn of chaos:
Afghan women scholars face expulsion from Oman, and health programs in 120 countries falter.
Trump’s team, undeterred, eyes a USAID-State merger, with Musk tweeting Tuesday, “The important parts should’ve always been with State”. Critics, including Sen. Brian Schatz, call it a “systematic dismantling” of U.S. soft power, projecting a 13% aid drop.
A Legacy Undone, a Future Uncertain
The USAID findings—$8.2 billion frozen, programs gutted, and evidence at risk—cap a six-week blitz aligning with Trump’s tariff wars and DOGE’s efficiency crusade.
Rubio’s Monday X post claimed a leaner aid model, but experts like Politico’s analysts predict tens of thousands of job losses and a U.S. retreat from stabilizing fragile regions.
As courts weigh document preservation and Congress grapples with Trump’s authority, the agency’s unraveling—once a 60-year pillar of global aid—signals a seismic shift, with the world left to pick up the pieces.
