President Trump’s administration is taking another major step in cutting down bloated government bureaucracy, this time targeting the scandal-ridden U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to an agency official and a source familiar with the situation, nearly all Washington-based USAID staff will be placed on leave—marking the most significant shake-up in the agency’s history, far-left Politico reported.
This move impacts thousands of government employees, further advancing Trump’s long-promised mission to eliminate wasteful spending and corruption in foreign aid programs.
Tech mogul Elon Musk, a staunch Trump ally leading an initiative to downsize the government, has identified USAID as a prime example of taxpayer abuse and bureaucratic overreach.
All @DOGE did was check to see which federal organizations were violating the @POTUS executive orders the most.
Turned out to be USAID, so that became our focus. https://t.co/26FXTFFlLJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2025
Sources to Politico say that as of Tuesday, around 1,400 USAID employees will be officially notified of their leave status, adding to the 600 staffers who were already sidelined starting Sunday night.
This sweeping action—approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio—represents a near-total purge of Washington-based USAID staff, many of whom are career bureaucrats embedded in the agency for decades.
Additionally, a senior USAID official confirmed that over 1,400 staffers had their system access revoked Tuesday morning, indicating that even more employees than previously announced may be removed.
On top of this, hundreds of USAID contractors have been laid off or furloughed in recent weeks due to an ongoing freeze on foreign aid imposed by President Trump and his administration.
For years, USAID has operated with minimal oversight, funneling American taxpayer dollars to questionable initiatives, including:
- $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion” in Serbian businesses
- $70,000 for a DEI-themed musical in Ireland
- $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam
- $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
- $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
- $2 million for taxpayer-funded sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala
- $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
- Millions of dollars funneled to EcoHealth Alliance, a group linked to gain-of-function research in Wuhan
- USAID has been caught sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to a nonprofit organization linked to designated terrorist groups, even after an inspector general’s investigation was launched.
USAID’s unchecked spending has finally met a reckoning under President Trump. For decades, American taxpayers have unknowingly funded radical initiatives abroad, while domestic concerns like border security and veterans’ welfare were sidelined.
By gutting USAID’s bureaucratic bloat and shifting its responsibilities under the State Department, Trump is making it clear that the era of unaccountable, leftist-driven foreign aid is over.
The post Trump’s Draining the Bureaucratic Swamp Continues: Nearly ALL USAID Staff Will Be Put on Leave in Addition to Mass Layoffs appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.