USAID Corrupt?

Read and decide

I usually don’t do posts that appear politically sectarian but what follows is personal: I have been involved in financially supporting 2 Christian foreign development agencies for decades. I have visited their working in each of their sites I support. They are now hindered directly and indirectly by the freezing of USAID funds because of charges of corruption. Are these charges valid? Read what follows and decide for yourselves:

The following information was extracted piecemeal from a post by Joel Emory (thanks Dustin) and a Holy Post podcast #656:

The White House is defunding USAID, one of the largest distributors of foreign aid, and blaming it on wasteful spending—like a D.E.I musical in Ireland. But the real losers are Christian relief organizations like World Relief and Catholic Charities, World Vision and others which now face devastating budget cuts.

World Relief had to send out another emergency request because USAID is being shut down by Elon Musk. The National Catholic Reporter is an independent Catholic news agency. Their editorial board put out a piece entitled “Silence in the Face of Trump's Cruelty is Complicity”. Catholic Relief Services is the largest relief agency in the world with a budget that goes towards education and health care and community development all over the world. Catholic Relief Services faces massive cuts in staff and programs because of reductions in international aid. The National Catholic Reporter editorial board continues, “the US was never a nation of angels, but we have aspired to noble ideals no matter how imperfectly lived over our history. We are now in danger of abandoning any pretext to living those ideals.”

DOGE’s statement claimed that USAID has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous and in many cases malicious pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats with next to no oversight. The news release then listed 12 examples of this gross negligence corruption and plucked from the websites of right wing media. Washington Post looked into all 12 claims and discovered that one of them out of the 12 was an accurate claim.

The dismantling of USAID isn’t about fraud. It’s not about waste. And it’s certainly not about making government more efficient. Rather than conducting an actual audit, Musk and Trump have used a familiar tactic—manufacture a scandal, flood the space with selective outrage, and use it to justify dismantling an agency they already wanted gone.

Take a look at a few of the White House’s official justifications for gutting USAID:

▪️ Claim: USAID gave $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland.

Reality: Wrong. It wasn't USAID. It was a State Department grant given by the US ambassador to Ireland who hosted a musical event featuring a Grammy winning folk duo along with other Irish and American musicians.

▪️ Claim: USAID spent $47,000 for a transgender opera in Columbia.

Reality: Wrong. USAID did not fund this. The White House appears to be referring to a $25,000 state department grant to a university in Bogota to stage an opera called As One composed by an American composer. The rest of the money came from other sources.

▪️ Claim: $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.

Reality: Wrong. USAID did not fund this, and it was not specifically transgender. It was a grant from the state department under the guise of public diplomacy to cover expenses to produce a tailor-made comic featuring an LGBTQ hero to address social and mental health issues in Peru.

▪️ Claim: “USAID spent $6 million on tourism in Egypt.”

Reality: This funding was for education and economic development in North Sinai, not tourism. The grant was announced in 2019 during Trump’s first administration. Stripping away the date and purpose makes it sound like a recent, frivolous expenditure rather than part of an established economic aid initiative.

▪️ Claim: “USAID spent $1.5 million to promote workplace diversity in Serbia.”

Reality: This was part of a broader economic initiative to increase job opportunities in Serbia—where workplace discrimination limits economic participation. The program focused on helping businesses grow by improving inclusivity—but was reframed as an ideological “waste” rather than an economic development effort.

Further it needs to be stated that the USAID budget is less than 1% of the total budget. About two-thirds of US foreign assistance funds in fiscal year 2018 were obligated to U.S.-based entities. For instance, food aid for other countries must be purchased in the United States. You don't send money overseas. You buy the food in the United States. It helps US farmers. And also by law, aid must be shipped on US carriers. It’s a jobs program.

Could an actual audit be conducted on how these funds were used? Absolutely. In a functioning government, there should always be room for debate over whether certain initiatives are priorities or whether they are effective. But that is not what is happening here. As stated above, the goal is to stir outrage.

The biggest red flag? If USAID were truly corrupt, they would be showing full financial audits, not vague accusations. If the goal were actually to root out inefficiencies, a proper USAID audit would be lengthy, comprehensive, and detail both strengths and weaknesses. Instead, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) simply declared USAID “beyond repair” and started shutting it down—no audit needed.