USAID Scandal

Cause Before Symptom - With Your Host James Carner

USAID Scandal

Over the past several decades, billions of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars have been funneled into left-wing initiatives around the globe through the United States Agency for International Development.

Established in 1961, the agency was intended to administer foreign aid and assistance to developing nations, but it has since apparently become an unscrutinized black hole of waste, fraud, and abuse.

With a mandate from American voters nationwide, President Donald Trump and his administration have set their sights on rooting out the federal government’s wasteful spending. Of the thousands of agencies, Trump chose USAID.

The administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency, created by Obama called US Digital Services, but rebranded as DOGE led by Elon Musk, began exposing in December that USAID has used taxpayer funds to support anti-American, far-left causes.

To provide context for USAID’s spending, in fiscal year 2023, the agency managed a roughly a $43.8 billion dollar budget.

Outside USAID, the federal government also made questionable funding decisions through the State Department, providing $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, $35,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, and $22,231 on a “USAID Social Media Influencers Campaign.”

Although the Trump administration released a list of waste and abuse, more trickled in after discovery and it has been a challenge to find all of the reported cases. From what I could find, here is a complete list as of March 12, 2025 of all waste spending by USAID.

DEI

* $45 million to diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma. The DOGE reported that seven “DEI-related” USAID contracts valued at $375 million were canceled.
* $1.5 million “to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, by promoting economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people.” The program aimed to “expand opportunities” and “reduce[] workplace discrimination.”
* $1.5 million to “art for inclusion of people with disabilities.”
* $19 million for two separate “inclusion” programs in Vietnam.
* $1.3 million to “provide Arab and Jewish [Israeli] residents … with a collaborative platform, photography skills.” The program offered participants “mixed identity photography workshops.”
* Paid $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland.
* Paid $500,000 to expand atheism in Nepal.

LGBT

* $2 million for “activity to strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming health care” in Guatemala.
* Paid for a “trans” care clinic in Vietnam
* $37.7 million to study HIV among “sex workers (SWS), their clients, and transgender (TG) people” in South Africa.
* $7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists about “gender-sensitive reporting.”
* $1.1 million to “empower the LGBTI community” and “protect them from violence and discrimination” in Armenia.
* $1.5 million to “upscale LGBT rights advocacy” in Jamaica.
* Paid $25,000 for a “trans” opera in Colombia.
* Paid $32,000 for “trans” comic books in Peru.

Climate Change

* $520 million for consultant-driven environmental, social, and governance investments in Africa, according to the DOGE.
* $2.5 million to build electric vehicle charging stations and other related infrastructure in Vietnam. Through the USAID Vietnam Urban Energy Security project, the agency has “provide[d] funding and technical assistance for innovative solutions that address urban energy and environment issues.”
* $1 million to assist disabled people in Tajikistan to become “climate leaders.”
* $24 million for a “green transportation and logistics program” in Georgia.

Cultural & educational propaganda

* $20 million on “Ahlan Simsim,” a new “Sesame Street” show in Iraq. According to a now-archived version of USAID’s website, the children’s series was “designed to promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups.”
* $6 million for tourism in Egypt, according to the White House. Corporate media outlets were quick to “fact-check” a press release linked by the Trump administration, arguing that it did not mention that the funds would be used for tourism purposes. However, USAID has invested $100 million in taxpayer dollars that have either directly or indirectly boosted Egypt’s tourism, including an $8.6 million campaign in 2022.
* $1.2 million to construct a “state-of-the-art 440 seat auditorium” for the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, D.C.
* $31.5 million on “counseling, organizational resilience, wellness, and work-life support” for USAID employees, Fox News reported.
* $29 million to “improve the skills of young and female Egyptians in the manufacturing and service sectors,” Fox News reported.
* $4.5 million to “advance integrity and accountability in the information space, and build societal resilience in the face of disinformation” in Kazakhstan.
* $6 million to “transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles.”
* Paid $27 million for “reintegration gift bags” to illegal aliens being returned to Latin America.
* Jordan: $40 million spent on educational programs with minimal transparency.
* Vietnam: $11 million dedicated to fighting “trash burning.”

Foreign policy & security risks

* $160 million to update payment systems in Afghanistan.
* $1 million to a Hamas-linked charity in Gaza.
* $15 million for condoms and oral contraceptives in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
* $4.67 million to EcoHealth Alliance, a research organization that funded the Wuhan lab linked to the COVID-19 virus.
* $330 million to fund alternative development projects that failed to “deter farmers and [drug] traffickers from cultivating” poppy plants, thereby “inadvertently” fueling heroin production and trafficking in Afghanistan.
* $151 million in aid from going straight to Arab terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank.
* USAID sent around $420 million to the Gazans and West Bankians
* $61 million paid to Afghanistan
* Handed out $4.4 billion to Haiti in 2010, much of it under the aegis of the Clinton Foundation when Hillary was Secretary of State. Almost none of the Clinton Foundation money went to the Haitian people. Bill and Hillary Clinton are estimated to have a net worth of around $120 million.
* Funded an Irish event that attacked Catholicism and promoted mass immigration to Ireland.
* Paid over $300,000 to BBC’s media action fund. The BBC is a British government entity that receives its funding from a mandatory tax on any UK residents who own televisions. Its annual revenue is £5.389 billion ($665,0295,450).
* Paid an estimated $300 million to Afghanistan during the Obama years, an unsupervised activity that funded the Taliban.
* Funded hundreds of thousands of meals to Syrian al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters.
* Millions have been sent to religious charities to fund resources for illegal immigrants.
* Millions have been sent to the hard-left American Bar Association, which has been using its money to keep illegal immigrants in America.
* After the devastating 2010 earthquake, USAID allocated $1.14 billion for a port and power plant project.
* A 2006 audit revealed that $74 million earmarked for democracy-building in Cuba vanished without oversight or accountability.
* Gave Afghanistan who supported a number of capacity-building activities at the Afghanistan Central Bank (DAB) to help DAB regulate the banking sector. Currently, Deloitte1 provides DAB technical assistance in bank supervision and examination through a $92 million task order for the Economic Growth and Governance Initiative, which includes many activities in addition to bank supervision and examination.
* $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.

Disease

* Paid $30 million to study HIV in Africa among sex workers, especially so-called “transgender” sex workers. This money seems to have been used for chemically and surgically mutilating mentally ill Africans.
* Directly and indirectly funneled $200 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which introduced COVID to the world.

Political

* $27 million was secretly funneled to fund legal actions against populist political figures worldwide, including prosecutions targeting Donald Trump. Critics argue that this amounts to unlawful interference in sovereign political processes.
* Further, USAID awarded $1.2 billion to undisclosed recipients, according to DOGE.

And according to Politico and Reuters, USAID has just ordered mass shredding of documents.

According to factcheck.com, Democrats deny the allegations and point toward the state who made the requests to send the funds. As if it's not USAID's fault. However, if they did nothing wrong, why did they just order their entire company to shred all documents?

The grand total of the sum of wasteful spending according to my numbers is 5.4 billion dollars. Many will look at that number and think it’s not that big of a deal compared to the trillions we spend every year DEI, Disease, Political, Foreign aid/policies and security. But the problem we have is gender studies, LGBTQ agendas, funding terrorists, media kickbacks and the like.

The left will see it as necessary to keep the peace and help people with disadvantages. Their philosophy is they will take the bad with good. I can understand that because government has always been corrupt and politicians must make do on their promises. But this isn’t an issue of the left or the right. It’s an issue of accountability, checks and balances and trust.

How can the American people put any faith or trust in its government when every year, they raise the debt ceiling and continue wasteful spending, kickbacks and obvious political fraud? 36 trillion dollars are owed to the federal reserve and it’s bond holders.

The U.S. government has a massive spending problem, and with a $36 trillion national debt, we’re running into serious long-term consequences. A lot of wasteful spending comes from bloated bureaucracies, inefficient programs, and foreign aid that doesn’t always serve American interests.

Government Waste & $36 Trillion Debt

The national debt is growing at an unsustainable rate, and a big part of the problem is deficit spending. The government spends far more than it brings in, and interest payments on the debt alone are skyrocketing. In fiscal year 2023, interest on the debt was over $659 billion—more than what we spent on the entire U.S. military!
Some examples of wasteful spending include:

* The Pentagon losing track of billions in funds.
* Billions spent on unused or abandoned infrastructure projects.
* Welfare programs that incentivize dependency rather than self-sufficiency.
* COVID-19 relief fraud, where hundreds of billions were stolen or misused.

USAID & Consequences for American Stability

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is one of the biggest foreign aid organizations, and while it’s supposed to promote stability abroad, it often does the opposite. The U.S. spends billions annually on foreign aid, much of which goes to countries that don’t align with American interests.

Potential consequences of USAID:

1. Draining American Resources – While we’re struggling with debt and economic instability, billions go to fund projects in foreign nations rather than fixing domestic issues like infrastructure, crime, and homelessness.
2. Unintended Consequences – Foreign aid can prop up corrupt regimes, interfere with local economies, or even fuel conflicts rather than prevent them.
3. Weakening National Stability – Americans see their government prioritizing other nations over their own citizens, leading to discontent and loss of trust in government institutions.
4. Geopolitical Backlash – Countries sometimes resent U.S. interference, leading to anti-American sentiment instead of goodwill.

USAID is proof that government spending is sometimes used for political manipulation rather than legitimate governance. If taxpayer money is being funneled into media outlets to control narratives or being used to attack political opponents, that's a serious issue that undermines democracy and the rule of law.

Weaponization of Government Spending

There have been concerns that federal agencies, PACs, and even nonprofits funded by the government have been used to:

1. Control the Media Narrative – Government contracts and grants going to media organizations or "fact-checkers" that push certain viewpoints while suppressing others.
2. Politicize the Justice System – The use of taxpayer-funded investigations and lawsuits to target political opponents.
3. Censor Dissenting Voices – Social media companies working with government agencies to silence or deplatform political opposition.

If tax dollars are being used for lawfare against Trump or any political figure, it’s not just wasteful—it’s a fundamental betrayal of what government is supposed to be.

If taxpayer money has been used to fund media narratives or lawsuits against Donald Trump, several laws could have been violated. Here are some key areas where legal breaches might have occurred:

1. Misuse of Government Funds (Anti-Deficiency Act – 31 U.S.C. § 1341)

* This law prohibits federal agencies from spending money on activities not authorized by Congress.
* If taxpayer dollars were used to fund media influence operations or lawsuits without clear authorization, this could be a violation.

2. Hatch Act Violations (5 U.S.C. §§ 7321-7326)

* The Hatch Act restricts federal employees from using their positions to influence elections.
* If government officials directed agencies to fund media organizations that pushed anti-Trump narratives or if they coordinated legal action against him, this could be illegal.

3. Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733 – False Claims Act)

* Government funds cannot be misused for personal or political gain.
* If taxpayer money was funneled into media outlets under false pretenses (e.g., disguised as grants for “public awareness” but really meant for political purposes), that could be considered fraud.

4. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968)

* RICO laws target organized criminal activity, including political corruption.
* If there was coordination between government officials, media, and legal teams to target Trump with taxpayer funds, this could qualify as a racketeering case.

5. First Amendment Violations (Censorship and Government Interference)

* If government agencies pressured social media companies or news organizations to suppress Trump or his supporters, this could be an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
* Ongoing lawsuits (e.g., Missouri v. Biden) already claim government officials worked with tech companies to censor dissenting political views.

You would think that immediately, there would be congressional investigations, lawsuits and criminal charges plus defunding of corrupt agencies would be taking place. Well, not as much as you would think.

Congressional Investigations:

* Ethics Complaint Against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A watchdog group, Americans for Public Trust, filed an ethics complaint alleging that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez misused taxpayer funds for dance training payments totaling $4,550. The complaint suggests these expenses may contravene federal law and House standards. nypost.com

2. Lawsuits and Criminal Charges:

* Executive Orders Targeting Law Firms: President Trump's executive orders against law firms Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling have raised constitutional concerns. Legal experts argue these actions could violate the First and Fifth Amendments, and potential legal challenges are anticipated. reuters.com

3. Defunding and Restructuring Agencies:

* Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): Led by Elon Musk, DOGE aims to reduce government waste and has targeted several federal agencies, including attempts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These efforts have faced legal challenges and sparked controversy.

None of the DOGE work on the USAID Scandal has led to any arrests or charges. Recent reports indicate that USAID staff have been instructed to destroy classified documents amid the agency's dismantling by the Trump administration. An internal email from Erica Carr, USAID's acting executive director, directed employees to engage in "all day" efforts to burn and shred sensitive records at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.
NYPOST.COM

In response, the Personal Services Contractor Association, representing USAID contractors, has petitioned a federal judge to halt the destruction of these documents to preserve evidence for ongoing lawsuits related to the agency's closure.
APNEWS.COM

Despite these developments, there have been no public reports of arrests or charges directly resulting from the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) investigations into alleged wasteful spending, racketeering, bribery, or money laundering within USAID. While the document destruction raises concerns about potential obstruction of justice, no legal actions have been announced at this time.

If the full extent of these allegations—USAID corruption, document destruction, and government inaction despite DOGE's findings—goes mainstream, it could have serious economic, political, and social consequences. The American public has already been growing skeptical of government institutions, and if people perceive that taxpayer money is being misused without accountability, trust in the government could erode even further. This could lead to an increase in civil disobedience, tax resistance, or demands for radical government reform.

Socially, this could push the country further into polarization. One side would demand severe crackdowns on corruption, while another—perhaps influenced by mainstream media or political affiliations—might attempt to downplay or dismiss the story. If people begin to believe that the justice system is compromised and that elites face no real consequences, protests could escalate into widespread unrest. Some Republican-led states might resist cooperating with federal agencies accused of corruption, potentially leading to legal battles over federal funding or calls for state sovereignty measures to protect taxpayer money from being misused.

Economically, the fallout could be significant. If mainstream media covers this aggressively, market uncertainty could rise, leading to volatility on Wall Street. Investors may lose confidence in government-backed assets, leading to capital flight. Worse, foreign governments could lose trust in U.S. financial institutions, accelerating the global trend of de-dollarization—where countries reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar. If Americans begin questioning where their tax money is going and see billions wasted without accountability, a taxpayer revolt could erupt, with more people resisting federal taxation, further straining government revenue.

In response, the government and media could attempt to suppress the story. Big Tech platforms and news networks might work to downplay or dismiss the allegations as conspiracy theories, while shifting public focus to another crisis—such as a new foreign war, economic collapse, or domestic security threat. The government might arrest a few low-level officials to give the illusion of accountability while shielding those at the top. Meanwhile, whistleblowers, journalists, and agencies like DOGE that push for transparency could face retaliation in the form of legal threats, financial audits, or deplatforming.

The long-term consequences will depend on how much of the corruption is exposed and whether accountability follows. If the system is forced to reform, we could see major government agencies being restructured, defunded, or dissolved, preventing future misuse of taxpayer dollars. However, if the government buries the story, public trust in institutions could collapse entirely. People might turn to underground economies, relying on bartering, cryptocurrency, and local trade instead of the banking system. Some regions might push for greater independence or secessionist movements, arguing that the federal government is too corrupt to be reformed.

My guess is no one will be prosecuted as this would harm the economy and because Trump already placed dangerous tariffs on many countries while they retaliated with the same amount. Rumors of recession is looming and as a matter of national security, the administration will likely just let them go. This could also be seen as Trump working for the bad guys. Someone needs to get caught, which is USAID to please the public and then they can continue with their agenda 2030.

Source

https://newsaddicts.com/unraveling-the-deep-state-here-are-the-most-egregious-things-usaid-was-doing-with-your-money/
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/even_a_short_list_of_how_usaid_spent_our_money_is_outrageous.html
https://oblongmedia.net/2025/02/04/usaid-exposed-unmasking-a-global-network-of-corruption-and-mismanagement/
https://redwave-media.com/usaid-is-the-largest-criminal-fraud-business-of-history-and-this-is-a-shocking-list-of-abuse/
https://publicintelligence.net/usaid-kabul-bank-classifiedunclassified-version-comparison/
https://www.rt.com/news/614056-usaid-shred-burn-documents/
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/sorting-out-the-facts-on-waste-and-abuse-at-usaid/
https://cbn.com/news/politics/white-house-releases-list-usaid-waste-and-abuse-everything-al-qaeda-trans-operas

Millions
45
1.5
1.5
19
1.3
2
37.7
7.9
1.1
1.5
520
2.5
1
24
20
6
1.2
31.5
29
4.5
6
27
40
11
160
1
15
4.67
330
151
420
61
4.4
300
74
92
30
200
27

Total 2.7 billion

Thousands
300,000
70,000
500,000
25,000
32,000
78,000

Total: 1,005,000

Billions
1.4
1.2

Total 2.6 billion

Grand total

5.4 billion