One former State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) official is speaking out over the waste and fraud she allegedly saw, which ultimately made it difficult to do their jobs.
“We would try to keep USAID in line with the Secretary of State because, technically, the USAID responds to the Secretary of State, and it was very difficult. There was no traceability, no accountability, and it was really hard for us to do our jobs,” Catharine O’Neill Gillihan said on “Varney & Co.” Wednesday.
O’Neill Gillihan worked at the State Department for three years before transferring to being a USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration. Currently, the USAID finds itself in the crosshairs of Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chair Elon Musk, as they work to shut down the agency.
Musk, the world’s richest man now in charge of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), made headlines over the weekend after he targeted the international aid agency and his team seized classified information on Saturday despite lacking the security clearance to do so, the Associated Press reported.
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By Sunday, the USAID website went dark and on Monday employees were barred entry into its headquarters, while thousands of others had their work instantly put on hold.
USAID has become increasingly the target of heated U.S. politics, with Republicans arguing it is wasteful, promotes liberal agendas and should be enfolded into the State Department.
“The list goes on and on and on,” O’Neill Gillihan said of the spending waste. “I think I read recently that they were funding a ‘Sesame Street’ program in Peru. I mean, these programs have gotten so out of control.”
“USAID was created in 1961 by President Kennedy under executive order,” she further explained. “And his idea for the agency would be housed under this Department of State. So President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are totally within their right to bring USAID back under the Department of State. It’s within its original mandate.”
The U.S. far outspends its international peers when it comes to foreign aid, spending some $68 billion in 2023 – $40 billion of which was budgeted for USAID, the BBC reported.
“If you’re a CEO of a large company and you have a department that’s out there spending money that’s not in alignment with your mission, not matching up with your bottom line, the natural inclination is to bring that department into review and perhaps cut it,” O’Neill Gillihan pointed out.
“So Donald Trump, as the CEO of the United States of America, has deputized Elon Musk, who I see as the de facto controller of America, is reviewing every penny that’s going out the door… Article II of the Constitution gives the president that right, as [it’s] called the vesting clause, to review the powers of this government and to make sure that all of the spending is aligned with our interests.”
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FOX Business’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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