Tiny fraction of USAID funding for transinclusive DEIA - not fraud - Trump can't close down USAID - Schatz slows down Senate appointments in protest - employee reduction paused - legal cases underway
Trump does NOT need to shut down an agency to do an audit - or order everyone in that agency overseas to return to the USA, withdraw their kids from school etc and with people who depend on USAID at risk of dying as a result.
Skip to contents - or click on column of dashes to left of page on laptop
What DOGE is doing and what Trump is doing with them in USAID is way way beyond a simple read-only audit.
We can be sure there will be many legal challenges, which are already underway to stop and reverse this.
As a reason to shut down USAID the White House listed $12 million in funding that supports DEIA or green initiatives. Most of these were funded by the State Department and none of them were fraud, many also are projects that closed down long ago.
In 2023 the USAID had $25 billion funding but most of the projects in the White House list were funded by the State Department not USAID and the total including State Department foreign grants was $39 billion. The total the US spends on USAID is less than 1% of the Federal budget and USAID has bipartisan support in Congress and would never be closed down by the legislature. Much of the funding is spent in the USA, for instance all food aid and almost all military aid (except for Israel) must be bought in the USA and then shipped abroad.
See: The White House’s wildly inaccurate claims about USAID spending
Trump froze all this funding and tried to suspend everyone working for USAID worldwide, a total of 12,000+ employees in a 30 day plan to reduce the number to 294 and place it under the State Department. A judge has paused the plan to reduce the workforce for several days to look at it more closely. The funding freeze remains in place for now as of 8th Feb 2025, that also is being challenged in the courts.
TEXT ON GRAPHIC: Funded by state department not USAID
This was NOT fraud - it was an initiative to help to support trans kids in Peru during the pandemic
NOT in any way secret
NO legal claims of fraud
Trump and Musk have NO RIGHT IN THE LAW to use this comic book and other examples of trans favorable DEIA initiatives to close down USAID
This HAS to be done through Congress where the attempt will fail as USAID has bipartisan support
Federal employees also have been illegally recalled to the USA and furloughed without due process
going through the courts
Legal cases:
Pause for plan to reduce employees from 12,000+ to 294 and suspended employees reinstated
Action in Congress:
Democrat Senator Shaltz doing Senate slowdown of all appointments until USAID is restored.
UPDATE: USAID ordered to pause administrative leave (2,200 employees so far) and restore 500 employees already suspended - pausing plan to reduce USAID staff from 12,000 to less than 300 in 30 days
This was typical of Trump's Department of Justice shambolic attitude to legal cases. The DoJ didn't give Judge Nichols any legal briefs to explain their posiiton before they were due to fire 2,200 employees to join the 500 already suspended.
The DoJ refused to consider a voluntary pause on these actions while the case was considered.
So the judge issued a restraining order saying they left him no choice.
He has blocked the new administrative leave notices from going out, as well as any agency efforts to evacuate employees currently stationed overseas.
He has also restored the 500 employees already on administrative leave.
It’s a pause for about a week until he has time to give a longer term
This pause doesn’t yet force USAID to resume the frozen funding.
QUOTE However, Nichols did not grant all the unions’ requests, refusing to mandate the reopening of USAID buildings or restore funding for agency grants and contracts.
More details see:
In:
Snopes have a good summary of the legal situation, concluding:
QUOTE STARTS
Even if section 6563(a) did not require that USAID exist, the appropriations acts funding both the agency and its activities require that the agency continue, and the Impoundment Control Act prevents him from defunding those activities without getting Congress's permission through a procedure he has refused to follow.
Since this country's earliest days, Congress has decided by statute which agencies would exist in the federal government. Every prior president, including Mr. Trump himself from 2017-21, has followed these statutes even when they disagreed with them. This action is completely unprecedented.
. What to know about Trump, Musk and the dismantling of USAID
Washington Post analysis of the White House false funding claims
Washington Post has done a line by line analysis of the White House claims.
First, polls say the American public believe 25% of the Federal budget is on USAID and think it should be more like 10%. In reality it is less than 1%.
Much of the aid is spent in the USA, for instance food aid must be purchased in the USA and shipped overseas.
Apart from some military aid for Israel all the military aid must pay for U.S equipment and training.
(MOSTLY TRUE) “$1.5 million to ‘advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities’”
so far has received $1.14 million
(FALSE) “$70,000 for production of a ‘DEI musical’ in Ireland”
State department grant for an event hosted by the US ambassador in Ireland
(FALSE) “$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam”
a fund for awards up to $100,000 for business initiatives to bring green energy to Vietnam
(FALSE) “$47,000 for a ‘transgender opera’ in Colombia”
$25,000 state department grant for an opera about a transgender artist, “As One,” by an American composer Laura Kaminsky
(FALSE) “$32,000 for a ‘transgender comic book’ in Peru”
State department, not USAID, and for a comic book featuring LGBTQ+ heroes during the pandemic
(MISLEADING) “$2 million for sex changes and ‘LGBT activism’ in Guatemala”
no funding for any medical interventions
(FALSE) “$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt”
launched by Trump’s first administration to support access to transportation for rural communities and economic livelihood planning for families. Nothing to do with tourism
(DUBIOUS) “Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a nonprofit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation”
Allegations never proven and the organization “Helping Hand for Relief and Development” says they are “baseless and defamatory”
(MISLEADING) “Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab”
$1.1 million up to 2019 to monitor viruses that might be able to jump from animals to humans in Africa and Asia.
in 2020 it payed the Wuhan lab to get samples from 1,500 individuals in Yunnan province exposed to bats and other wildlife to try to determine the origins of COVID
in 2023 EcoHealth was awarded $4.7 million for a conservation project in Southern Liberia to improve farming practices
(HIGHLY MISLEADING) “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
this was a fraud exposed by USAID in an NGO it funded by the head of the NGO. So Trump is blaming USAID for a fraud it exposed itself.
(MISLEADING) “Funding to print ‘personalized’ contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries”
was funding for research into low-cost, safe and noninvasive HIV prevention methods and contraceptives
(FALSE) “Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund ‘irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,’ benefiting the Taliban”
this is a project from 2005 to 2008 under Bush
Taliban banned poppy cultivation, USAID under Bush funded agricultural development but because of the power vacuum with Taliban gone, poppy growers were able to take advantage of the improved agriculture to grow poppies
never intended to support poppy growing and not in any way support of the Taliban
Washington post summary: “It’s a stretch to now, years later, accuse USAID of helping the Taliban.”
See: The White House’s wildly inaccurate claims about USAID spending
For now its mainly Democrats doing their job as the party in opposition to keep the government accountable - this is normal in any democracy
In this debunk I talk about the work Democrats are doing to try to stop the closure of USAID. This is not meant as political. Not trying to convince anyone to vote Democrat. It is just that they are doing their job as the opposition in government to try to keep the governmetn accountable for its actions.
You expect the opposition in an government to be at the forefront in such efforts because the party that supports the president can be expected to rally around him. They will only act agains the president in extraordinary circumstances. This is normal in every democracy.
However, there are occasions when both parties act to stop the president from doing something. One of the most striking is with the bipartisan impoundment control act.
That was a very similar situation under Nixon. The impoundment control bill was passed in 1974 after then president Nixon refused to spend lots of funding that was allocated by Congress.
. Impoundment of appropriated funds - Wikipedia
It passed unanimously in the Senate 80 : 0 and almost unanimous in the House easily exceeding the 2/3 majority to override the presidential veto.
So the Republicans might join the Democrats eventually but for now it’s up to the Democrats to reign in the work of DOGE to close down government departments like USAID.
Democrats do have some strong levers. In particular they can do legal challenges and Brian Schalz is going to gum up the works in the Senate until the president reverses this decision (an action only Senators can do).
Meanwhile, they are trying to get their Republican colleagues in the Senate to join them. Without them they can’t do that much except slow things down.
The main way to stop illegal executive orders and illegal actions of the executive is with legal cases
What anyone can do is to take out legal cases. That includes the Democrats - and employees unions and such like.
We have already seen several legistlative injunctions succeed and more will soon be on theie way.
What is going on is very illegal. Cuting off funding and closing a department should be the perogative of Congress and is illegal impoundment - so it goes against the division of powers.
See the section on impoundment in
Also, see my:
What DOGE is doing is also against the legal rights of career Federal employees. Each employee has the right to an individual case where they can answer charges against them and challenge the grounds for dismissal or for being suspended from their work.
And DOGE is supposed to be just advisory. It’s not part of the executive and has no rights to take such actions.
The current conservative Supreme Court is not likely to look favorably on such actions. The Supreme Court is legally conservative not MAGA and has frequently ruled against Trump, he has the worst record there at least since 1937..
So these legal challenges should succeed eventually.
And Trump can’t ignore court orders. My blog post here can help clarify some confusions many have.
More on this at the end of this post.
Only a minute fraction of USAID funding funds trans inclusive equal rights - billions of dollars funds support for Ukraine to continue through a war - humanitarian issues - health - agriculture - and support for allied countries in the Middle East
First, only a minute fraction of a percent of USAID funding is used to fund trans inclusive equal rights oversees. And USAID funding is only a small part of total US funding.
The annual USAID budget is over $40 billion. Of that less than $4 million a year is for trans inclusive rights according to the White House's own list. Total US spending of $6.1 trillion in fiscal year 2023 is 140 times the funding in USAID.
Some of the more important elements in that $40 billion+ are:
$17 billion is for "governance issues" most of that for Ukraine to keep the government going through the war.
$10.5 billion is for humanitarian issues.
$7 billion is for health.
$1.3 billion is for agriculture.
$770 million goes to help support the government of Jordan, a key US ally in the Middle East.
$811 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
$330 million in emergency food and nutrition assistance for Afghanistan.
I got the figures on total funding of USAID from France24's summary of what USAID funded:
Trump has temporarily stopped ALL of that, resuming it case by case, in order to eliminate transgender inclusive programs and anything to do with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
USAID’s suppot of trans inclusive DEIA is not fraud - it was requred to do so under Biden’s administration - no need to take over USAID to find out about them
The things he stopped do seem to be genuine USAID expensese, though some of them are misrepresented.
This is NOT fraud since one of the things that USAID was tasked with doing under Biden's administration was to promote Diversity Equity, Inclusion / Accessibility. That included transgender rights.
They were projects that anyone could read about publicly.
So, there was no need for Musk's team to take over the computer systems of USAID to find out about these projects. All they needed to do was to visit the website.
In the video, she is outraged and claiming fraud about something that USAID funded with full transparency and no deceit.
I know Trump doesn't believe the medical science. He wants to close anything down that's federally funded that recognizes the biological reality of trans.
But it wasn't fraud for USAID to do actions based on the medical science that has established for many years that some people really are biologically trans and face problems in the workspace.
Some people are biologically trans - not a mental illness for women to dress and behave differently from men - some people have a brain that has the biology of the opposite sex - medical research confirms
Everyone would agree that it is not a symptom of mental illness to dress differently and behave differently if you are a man than if you are a woman. This is not something anyone can change. It is just the way you are.
Well in the same way, medical science says that similarly being biologically trans is not a mental illness either. It is just the way you are. It is something that happens to the fetus within the womb.
Although a child typically only notices this much later, they are already trans at birth.
Once you realize this, then such initiatives are not outrageous. I think at some time in the future perhaps a decade or two from now once this is more widely understood by the public, Republicans also will look back at this as a bizarre episode where a president tried to fight the medical profession and research findings on the biology of trans.
The top clinics and university websites in the USA continue to cover the medical reality of the biology of trans. Though Trump has ordered the CDC to takek down this material, by first amendment rights he can't order the John Hopkins university or Mayo clinic or Cleveland Clinic etc to take it down.
So these websites will continue to show this material as it is medical reality and truth.
BLOG: Trump can't change the medical truth of trans by removing CDC web pages — it's like a dog barking at the Moon — Mayo clinic, John Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic etc continue to cover the truth in the USA READ HERE: https://robertinventor.substack.com/p/the-medical-reality-of-trans-cant
Projects closed down because they advance DEIA in other countries
This is the $1.3 million project that he closed down. From the archived version of the page that used to exist on USAID:
QUOTE Let’s Come Out – Let’s Work Together is a three-year activity that will advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities. By demonstrating that inclusion of all individuals, including LGBTQI+, yields positive effects for the economy, and educating and engaging the public to better understand the value and importance of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) standards for LGBTQI+ in the economic sector, the activity will improve the equity of disadvantaged communities, thereby increasing equitable prosperity and contributing to USAID’s overall goal of a more prosperous and democratic Serbia committed to European integration and self-reliance. https://web.archive.org/web/20241008003425/https://www.usaid.gov/serbia/fact-sheets/mar-08-2023-lets-come-out-lets-work-together-project-0
This is the $2 million project in Guatemala
QUOTE STARTS
Discrimination of marginalized social groups in Guatemala often results in forced migration. The IAF supports community-led approaches with traditionally marginalized groups to promote social and economic inclusion. Our grantee Asociación Lambda (Lambda) will support Colectivo Transformación to protect human rights, prevent gender-based violence, and increase access to education and employment opportunities. The grant will also strengthen Transformación’s organizational management capacity.
This grant is part of the IAF’s efforts to build inclusive, just, and safe societies for all people, and create alternatives to migration and violence in Central America.
The White House announcement links to sensationalist and unreliable sources, the Daily Mail and Breitbart news on them.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/uncategorized/2025/02/at-usaid-waste-and-abuse-runs-deep/
As an example, the "Trans opera" was an acclaimed opera in Columbia telling the life of a Trans artist.
QUOTE STARTS
Laura Kaminsky’s ‘As One’ is based on a script by Mark Campbell and Kymberly Reed and was performed at Bogota’s Teatro Libre de Chapinero in 2022. The dramatic musical enjoyed several runs in the Colombian capital that year. According to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, it was adapted by the city’s prestigious private University of the Andes after it won a2021 award for opera, zarzuela and operetta presented by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota.
Shortly after its premiere, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia awarded the show the resources necessary to put it on at the Teatro Libre. Later, it was screened at the city’s Opera in the Park initiative.
https://colombiaone.com/2025/02/04/colombia-opera-trans-usaid/
It also turns out to be a State Department grant not USAID.
The “transgender comic book” - nothing sexual - not even one kiss - just a comic book to help LGBT people navigate the pandemic in Peru
Also turns out to be another state department grant not USAID.
This is the transgender comic book.
QUOTE A series of 4 comics about how LGBT characters faced the pandemic. https://issuu.com/cronicasdeladiversidad/docs/super
This is an interior page
Selected pages from it in this thread on Twitter which is how I found it: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1886643629348798609.html
You can flip through the whole thing quickly. There is nothing in the least bit risque or explicit about it. Just characters who happen to be trans coping with the pandemic.
It doesn't even have one kiss in it. It’s not a romance, it’s not sexual at all.
Whether you consider all this to be an outrageous waste of money or a way to support trans rights in Guatemala, Colombia and Peru again depends on whether you believe trans people have rights that need to be supported.
Trans rights in turn are strongly supported by the medical science that some people are really biologically trans.
Makes no sense that USAID had to be urgently closed down because of these trans inclusive projects that were not fraudulent in any way
So, because of $4 million in funding on trans inclusive projects which were not fraudulent in any way and were promoting the rights of trans and other marginalized groups in some countries where they face major problems just because of biology that they can't change, and some other funding programs they objected to, the US government felt it had to immediately as an emergency action freeze all the funding and close down USAID as a separate Federal Agency, an agency that has been operating for decades.
It doesn't make sense that this would be so urgent. They could just tell USAID to stop funding those programs and give them time to ramp down the funding and let some other agency from another country take it on that does recognize the medical reality of trans.
Screenshot from USAID website https://www.usaid.gov as of writing this:
QUOTE STARTS [USAID website notice]
On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs. Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST).
For USAID personnel currently posted outside the United States, the Agency, in coordination with missions and the Department of State, is currently preparing a plan, in accordance with all applicable requirements and laws, under which the Agency would arrange and pay for return travel to the United States within 30 days and provide for the termination of PSC and ISC contracts that are not determined to be essential. The Agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons. For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming.
Thank you for your service.
https://www.usaid.gov/
This is what the France24 page says summarizing the work of USAID:
QUOTE STARTS
Close to $17 billion in USAID funding in 2023 went to addressing "governance" issues, the CRS said, noting that most of that was destined for Ukraine.
Additionally, around $10.5 billion went to addressing humanitarian issues, while $7 billion was set aside for health, and around $1.3 billion went to agriculture.
USAID also provided direct budgetary support to several countries around the world, including a cash transfer of more than $770 million to the government of Jordan, a key US ally in the Middle East, according to US government data.
Other major programs funded or managed by USAID in 2023 include $811 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and more than $330 million in emergency food and nutrition assistance for Afghanistan.
Other major programs funded or managed by USAID in 2023 include $811 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and more than $330 million in emergency food and nutrition assistance for Afghanistan.
Democrats doing what they can as the opposition in Congress - warning Trump against efforts to eliminate USAID
The Democrats have warned Trump against any effort to eliminate USAID as an independent agency
QUOTE STARTS
Democratic senators warned the Trump administration Friday against any effort to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development as an independent agency, responding to growing fears among its supporters that such plans may be in the offing.
Sen. Chris Murphy was one of a half-dozen Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to argue in statements and on social media that President Donald Trump would have no legal authority to dissolve the agency. ... Current and former officials at the State Department and USAID say staffers were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programs from the foreign aid freeze, which Trump imposed Jan. 20 and the State Department detailed how to execute on Jan. 24. ... Three days later, at least 56 senior career USAID staffers were abruptly placed on administrative leave.
...
A former senior USAID official said those put on leave had been helping aid organizations navigate the “confusing process” to seek waivers from the aid pause for specific life-saving projects, such as continuing clean water supplies for displaced people in war zones.
Others were identified as having been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programming, which the administration has banned. …
https://apnews.com/article/trump-usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-7d9c8cbcb241ec9a710feb8e883b9756
Senator Brian Schatz will gum up the works in the Senate until Trump restores USAID as a separate agency.
Senators only do this if they are very concerned about something. It is a lever they have over the president that representatives don't have.
An example NBC news give is that the Republican Tommy Tubervill put a hold for 10 months for just 400 appointments in protest against the Defense Department’s abortion travel policy.
QUOTE In 2023, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., placed a hold on over 400 military promotions for 10 months in 2023 in protest of the of Defense Department’s abortion travel policy.
That's 10 months for just 400 appointments.
It's especially effective right now with so many posts still vacant.
So for instance, the US will have no ambassador to the UN until Trump reverses whatever is happening at USAID. It also won't have a deputy Secretary of State, and it will have 100 countries without any ambassadors, amongst other things that will be delayed.
This is NBC’s summary of the appointments that Brian Schatz can put on hold until USAID is restored
QUOTE STARTS
The Trump administration has yet to formally put forward nominees for many of the vacant ambassadorships and assistant secretary positions that require Senate confirmation. But nominees for several key positions within the State Department are already in the pipeline.
Among them are Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, along with nominees for those positions immediately under Rubio: Christopher Landau for deputy secretary of state, Michael Rigas for deputy secretary of state for management and Adam Boehler for special envoy for hostage affairs.
Veteran career foreign service officers or civil servants are currently the acting leadership in these positions, but they are not able to act with the same authority as those whom the president has tapped. Almost 100 ambassadorships await nominations, according to the American Foreign Service Union, including senior leadership at the U.S. mission to the U.N.
Van Hollen talks to reporters in this video about how they tried to visit USAID headquarters.
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1mnxeANRePZxX
They were refused entry to the building. Asked why, the people in the building said it was on orders of Elon Musk and directed them to the Department of State. But Trump has no right to move USAID to the Department of State without the support of Congress.
He say that they are trying to do something about it in Congress but so far none of the Republican senators have joined them. So they are using the legal route.
They are going to slow down all government appointments in the Senate until USAID is restored. They are going agency to agency looking at the rights tof teh employees.
Legal situation explained here:
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO FROM TWEET:
2:23 We should be researching everybody's rights under the civil service and under the Constitution.
They don't have the right to be disciplining people for political reasons and
they don't have the right to usurp Congress's rightful role to appropriate money.
We've appropriated money for USAID to render service around the world and fighting disease and fighting corruption and defending democracy. We know Elon Musk is not interested in that. Donald Trump is not interested in that. But that's what the American Congress has done and we are going to stand up for the workers here.
A. If Elon Musk wants to shut this place down he should have the decency to come out here and speak to all of you. Because we asked to talk to whoever is in charge here. Right now it appears that Elon Musk is in charge of this agency. And I want to underscore a couple of things my colleague said.
There are two sets of important laws.
One is due process rights for Federal Employees. They want to replace a merit -based civil service with political proponents. They are going to try to replace 50 to 60,000 people who are based on what they know and their expertise with people based on who they know. Donald Trump and his office.
The other is this issue of trying to shut down an agency which was established under law. That is totally against a variety of statutes and there will be legal proceedings filed to stop them from essentially undoing AID.If they want to do that, they come to Congress, they make a proposal. I assure you that change they are trying to do here illegally would not get through the United States Congress.
...
9:24 So we went inside. We asked to enter the AID building. Really on behalf of the American people and to talk to AID employees because there's been a gag order imposed on AID employees, so we want to learn first hadn what's happeningWe were denied entry based on the order the order they received from Elon Musk and DOGE. Which just goes to show this was an illegal power grab by someone who contributed $267 million dollars to the Trump [election campaign].
They also referred us to the State Department to answer further questions. As if USAID had already been rolled into the State Deparment which has not happened and requires an act of Congress to do.
Q. What's been done in order to safeguard Federal Workers employment rights at this point in time?
What's keeping them from locking the doors?
A. What they've done here in AID with respect to civil servant employees is they've sent them home to work remotely. They've also Federal individual contractors who work for AID.
Over the last 48 hours they've essentially been disconnected from their email and that is putting lives at risk. The lives of the people they are working with and their own lives.
Q. Is there anything you are doing to keep that from working right now?
We are working with lawyers to try to get an injunction right now which we are working at.
A. The voice of the public is essential here. We need people not just all over America to be calling for reversal of these outrageous steps and the attempt to destroy AIDS.
This is an essential entity for the US in terms of extending our positive influence all over the world.
Elon Musk said it's a criminal organization. There's a criminal organization out there, but it's not USAID. And Elon Musk knows a lto about it and we are going to stop him at every turn.
Q. Do we expect more events like this at various agencies throughout the coming weeks from members of Congress?
We will do everything we can … [goes on to say that in Washington D.C. they will do this as needed with every department DOGE tries to shut down]
FROM TWEET VIDEO: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1mnxeANRePZxX
From tweet:
TWEET: We were just denied entry to USAID. We’re not done fighting back. Tune in as we discuss the next steps: https://x.com/ChrisVanHollen/status/1886489785461518565
It's really sad to see the tweet replies to it on X. Many people commenting there have the false belief that USAID is an illegal fraudulent orgnaization based on its funding of trans gender rights like that trans gender comic to help support trans people during the pandemic.
As we see in this debunk there was nothing fraudulent, all the payments were transparent, open, in the public and in accord with what the Biden administration tasked them to do.
They haven’t filed a single case of fraud in the courts to support these claims. Trump’s White House order just references sensationalist sources such as Brietbart News and the Daily Mail as his “proof” that USAID is engaged in fraud.
Here are only a few examples of the WASTE and ABUSE:
[list of many examples like the one covered here]
Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/uncategorized/2025/02/at-usaid-waste-and-abuse-runs-deep/
However, Musk's team and Trump know they have no legal case of fraud or they would have taken USAID to the courts.
The executive will certainly lose any court cases if they claim they needed to shut down USAID to prevent fraud. It was for political reasons.
And closing down a department for political reasons is not legal in the US Constitution. It is also not legal to fire or suspend Federal employees for political reasons.
So, one way or another this will be stopped and Trump will have to go through the normal legal processes and go through Congress for any dismissals he wants to make and any changes he wants to make in funding and the structure of the agencies he leads.
I know this is a scary time for many but be reassured - your legal rights are assured and the US does still have an independent judiciary.
In this situation where a president is ordering illegal actions using executive orders and his own party in Congress is not prepared to legislate to stop him the legal route is the only way ahead.
Note - the president himself isn’t at risk of impeachment for this. It is normal for a president’s executive orders to be stopped in the courts. The president tries to do things and sometimes the things he orders turn out to be unconstitutional. This often happened with Biden too and every US president.
What is unusual here is the scale of what Trump is trying to do with his executive orders.
But it is just like any other president he’ll be stopped if what he is trying to do is unconstitutional or illegal.
This has already happened with the funding freeze
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BLOG: Supporting someone who is suicidal
If you have got scared by any of this, health professionals can help. Many of those affected do get help and find it makes a big difference.
They can’t do fact checking, don’t expect that of them. But they can do a huge amount to help with the panic, anxiety, maladaptive responses to fear and so on.
Also do remember that therapy is not like physical medicine. The only way a therapist can diagnose or indeed treat you is by talking to you and listening to you. If this dialogue isn’t working for whatever reason do remember you can always ask to change to another therapist and it doesn’t reflect badly on your current therapist to do this.
Also check out my Seven tips for dealing with doomsday fears based on things that help those scared, including a section about ways that health professionals can help you.
I know that sadly many of the people we help can’t access therapy for one reason or another - usually long waiting lists or the costs.
There is much you can do to help yourself. As well as those seven tips, see my:
BLOG: Breathe in and out slowly and deeply and other ways to calm a panic attack
BLOG: Tips from CBT
— might help some of you to deal with doomsday anxieties