Musk on USAID: ‘Time for it to die’

[wing2000]

March 2 (Reuters) - A senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development in an email on Sunday warned that the Trump administration's dismantling of the agency will result in unnecessary deaths -- only to email his staff less than 30 minutes later to say that he had been placed on leave.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/usaid-official-warns-unnecessary-deaths-trumps-foreign-aid-block-then-says-hes-2025-03-03/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&utm_term=030325&lctg=62347fe4ea3e6439186f0ea6

...the government claims they were planning to place the official on leave....it was just coincidence that he recevied the email 20 minutes after he sent the warning email....

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump’s foreign aid demolition hits major Christian charities​

President Donald Trump’s senior aides held a closed-door meeting Friday with faith-based charities at the State Department where they touted the administration’s success in “zeroing out” foreign aid and forecast a future where church groups and billionaires would replace the government in caring for the world’s most vulnerable.

“Do you want the country to get credit for foreign aid, or do you want the Creator to get the credit?” asked Albert Gombis, a State Department political appointee, according to two people who attended the meeting.

The vice president of World Vision, Edward Brown, said his Christian charity would have to lay off a few thousand workers if the administration’s policies weren’t reversed, people in the room said.

Other leaders of charities said the Trump administration never paid them for providing lifesaving assistance that was supposed to be exempt from the freeze under a waiver issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Some had secured exemptions for their aid programs only to be informed last week that Rubio had canceled the programs altogether, a major source of frustration.

“One by one, the aid leaders artfully explained the benefits of foreign assistance and what is being lost by ending it,” said one person in the room, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting that has not been previously reported.

“Some of us looked at each other in disbelief,” said an attendee. “We care about poor and hungry people and don’t know how you can claim this as successful.”

A draft memo written by Nicholas Enrich [before he was fired], USAID’s acting assistant administrator for global health, estimated that ending programs to fight Ebola, polio, malaria and drug-resistant tuberculosis would result in the deaths of millions of children and cost the United States billions of dollars for the treatment of citizens infected with diseases that had been at bay in foreign countries.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Republicans quiet as DOGE slashes GOP-backed pro-democracy group​

The International Republican Institute’s furloughed staffers feel betrayed by former board member Marco Rubio.

In 2019, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida spoke at an elegant event celebrating the work of the Ronald Reagan-founded International Republican Institute, saying he was “so proud” to support the group and hailing fellow hawks Nikki Haley and Sen. John McCain in the audience.

But as secretary of state, Rubio did not spare the group from President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid and dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

With its funds frozen, the IRI has furloughed most of its staff and started shuttering its overseas offices.

The National Endowment for Democracy, a pro-democracy foundation that provides some of the IRI’s funding, has not been able to access its accounts at the Treasury Department for weeks, according to a statement from the group. Most of that group’s staff have been furloughed, as well, and it has suspended support for 2,000 partner groups around the world. On Wednesday, the group announced it was suing the Trump administration for the funds.

But the Trump administration has made clear in at least one court filingthat it believes “democracy promotion” grants are particularly objectionable, grouping them in the same class as those involving diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Influential Republican senators on the IRI board have been advocating for the group behind closed doors but keeping their defense of the IRI muted in public. [must not criticize the leader]

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), chairman of the IRI board, said the group was “collateral damage”
Another board member, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), released a general statement calling for scrutiny of foreign aid when asked about the IRI.
“I want to talk to the secretary of state about that,” [Sen.] Graham said of the State Department’s decision to reject the IRI’s waiver applications. “We’ll see what comes of it.”

Best not speak up too loudly, Lindsay...

 

[Hans Blaster]

Best not speak up too loudly, Lindsay...

We need not worry about LIndsay speaking up.

 

[Bradskii]

“One by one, the aid leaders artfully explained the benefits of foreign assistance and what is being lost by ending it,” said one person in the room, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting that has not been previously reported.

They want to remain anonymous? Why, for heaven's sake? Just make it known that if these criminally insane decisions aren't reversed - and that done immediately, then everyone at the meeting will hold a press conference where their problems will be explained in detail to the public.

 

[Bradskii]

Influential Republican senators on the IRI board have been advocating for the group behind closed doors but keeping their defense of the IRI muted in public.

Gutless. No other word for it.

 

[essentialsaltes]

‘Unlawful’ suspension of USAID funding probably violated Constitution, judge says​

The Trump administration probably violated separation of powers by withholding nearly $2 billion in Congress-approved foreign aid funds, a U.S. district judge ruled.

A U.S. district judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration must pay nearly $2 billion in foreign assistance owed to its humanitarian partners around the world, saying the administration probably violated separation of powers by “unlawfully impounding” the congressionally appropriated money.

U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in a ruling blocked the administration from withholding payment of foreign aid funds authorized by Congress, which has caused delays in lifesaving food and medicine in impoverished areas around the world.

More broadly, Ali’s ruling was also a forceful rebuke of President Donald Trump’s sweeping and controversial assertion that he has the power to determine how funds allocated by Congress are spent in one of its first court tests.

But Ali also found that Trump officials’ hasty review and termination of thousands of contracts with aid groups after Feb. 13 would probably pass legal muster, meaning the Trump administration could go forward with efforts to radically reduce foreign aid.

 

[essentialsaltes]

propublica reporter Brett Murphy