As the Trump administration works to shrink the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and place it under the State Department’s umbrella, congressional Democrats have argued that the move “endangers lives and undermines U.S. national security.” But away from funding for lifesaving medicines like HIV drugs, funding that is exempt from the State Department’s broader foreign aid freeze, USAID has spent millions in taxpayer cash on left-wing priorities like climate activism—and bankrolled groups linked to Palestinian terrorism.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that he will serve as USAID’s acting leader while the Trump administration works to reduce the agency’s spending. The agency’s career staffers have battled the administration’s 90-day freeze on foreign funding, seeking exemptions that would funnel tens of millions of dollars to agency bureaus that cover issues like “environmental justice” and “LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The Trump administration responded by putting scores of those staffers on administrative leave, a move Rubio said came in response to “insubordination.” USAID “has a history of … deciding that they’re somehow a global charity separate from the national interest,” he told reporters on Monday. “That sort of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct a sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid writ large should have.”
Rubio said that the State Department will not gut foreign aid altogether, but rather cut “programs that run counter to what we’re trying to do in our national strategy.” Here’s a rundown of spending under President Joe Biden that may fit that description:
$1 Million To Make Disabled Tajikistanis ‘Climate Leaders’
In 2023, Biden’s USAID allocated up to $1 million in taxpayer funds on a project to help disabled people in Tajikistan become “climate leaders,” the Free Beacon reported at the time.
The grant notice solicited proposals for a “Disability-Inclusive Climate Action” project in the Central Asian country. The cash was meant to ensure that disabled Tajikistanis were included “in the development of climate change response and mitigation policies.”
USAID championed the funding under its 2022-2030 climate strategy, a $150 billion “whole-of-agency approach” that aimed to create an “equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.” The Tajikistan grant was centered on ensuring “that climate action by governments and other actors is informed by and responsive to the unique ideas and contributions of persons with disabilities.”
$1 Million for Foreign DEI Programs, Including ‘Indigenous Language Technology’ in Guatemala
Just before leaving office, the Biden administration pushed out more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded diversity, equity, and inclusion programs abroad, the Free Beacon reported.
The funding notice, privately transmitted to Congress just before Christmas, said USAID would “engage with Indigenous-led institutions to implement an Indigenous language technology program” in Guatemala, where nearly 95 percent of residents speak Spanish.
In Kenya, meanwhile, USAID promised to “build a collaborative bridge between U.S. higher education institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities; select Kenyan universities; and the private sector.” And in Indonesia, the money aimed to help “underrepresented” students “gain access to higher education opportunities in the United States.”
Nearly $100K to a Palestinian Activist Group Whose Leaders Hailed PFLP Terrorism
In November 2022, USAID sent $78,000 to the Community Development and Continuing Education Institute (CDCEI), a Palestinian activist group based in the West Bank. Its leaders praised a terrorist who murdered a U.S. military attaché as a “hero fighter,” the Free Beacon reported.
CDCEI got the cash to promote “youth participation and accountability in local governance,” USAID said at the time.
Imad Al-Zeer, the chair of CDCEI’s board, attended a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine event celebrating the 52nd anniversary of the terrorist group’s founding. His deputy chair, Mike Salman, praised George Abdallah, a Lebanese terrorist serving a life sentence in France for the 1982 murder of U.S. military attaché Charles R. Ray, as “the hero fighter George.”
$1 Million to a Hamas-Linked Charity
Just six days before Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel, USAID doled out more than $900,000 “to a terror charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh,” a watchdog report obtained by the Free Beacon found.
USAID earmarked the funds for the Bayader Association for Environment and Development, a Gaza-based humanitarian group that was said to be “in close cooperation with [the] Hamas regime.”
“Bayader is listed in federal spending data as a sub-grantee for USAID, with the government monies first routed through a sponsoring U.S. nonprofit, which are ostensibly required to vet their sub-grantees,” according to a Middle East Forum report.
USAID would not comment at the time on whether the money was subject to oversight or vetted to ensure it did not benefit Hamas.
$1.5 Million Effort To ‘Empower’ Female Climate Activists in Northern Kenya
In May 2023, USAID announced plans to spend $1.5 million on a program aimed at “empowering” female climate activists in northern Kenya.
The project, the Free Beacon reported at the time, centered on “empowering women to adapt to climate change in northern Kenya.” Women in the area, USAID wrote, live in “traditionally patriarchal communities” and need training to join Kenya’s fight against climate change.
The funding notice detailed USAID’s efforts to “empower women, improve their participation in decision making, and enhance adaptive capabilities to climate change.” The program also operated as part of USAID’s 2022-2030 climate strategy.
$15 Million for ‘Contraceptives and Condoms’ in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan
In July 2024, Biden’s USAID sent $15 million into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for the distribution of “oral contraceptives and condoms.”
The spending, outlined in a congressional funding notice obtained by the Free Beacon, came roughly three years after the administration’s chaotic withdrawal from the country cemented the Taliban’s resurgence. The notice acknowledged that “some coordination” with the terror group would be “necessary for programmatic purposes.”
While U.S. law bars the federal government from funding the Taliban, the notice argued that USAID would work with “national authorities” in Afghanistan without “directly benefiting them.”
A Well-Established Vetting Problem
USAID has long struggled to ensure taxpayer cash goes to its intended use. A 2024 inspector general report, for example, found that the agency had issues combating “corruption, abuse, and fraud.”
“One of USAID’s foremost challenges is ensuring U.S. taxpayer funds are used effectively, efficiently, and for their intended purposes,” the report said. “However, corruption, fraud, and sexual exploitation and abuse undermine the effectiveness of aid, erode public trust, and impede sustainable development.”
The agency also came under fire last year for failing to “prevent the diversion of assistance to Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” according to the report. In one case, a Syrian national diverted $9 million in USAID funds to an affiliate of the al Qaeda terror group.
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