Donald Trump’s handling of the United States Agency for International Development is nothing beyond the scope of his presidential authority, a former White House liaison for USAID said on Washington Watch Monday.
Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are leading an effort to shut down USAID as part of the administration’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government. USAID was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to lead U.S. assistance to under-developed nations.
Now the curtain has been pulled back, revealing far-left abuse of taxpayer dollars – abuse that Democrats are defending as they heap insults and threats against Musk and DOGE.
Light has been shed on USAID sending:
$1.5 million to advance LGBTQ in Serbia
$70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland
$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru
$2 million for sex-change procedures in Guatemala
$15 million for contraceptives in Afghanistan
$1.5 million for climate leaders in Tajikistan
$20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq
The potential loss of American taxpayer funding for these causes has Democrats screaming “constitutional crisis.”
Musk hate from Democrats
“We didn’t elect him, we didn’t select him, we didn’t ask for him,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), also calling Musk a “thief and gangsta” as Democrats rallied in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday. In like vein, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) called for Musk, hired by the U.S. president, to keep his “greedy grubby hands off of our government.”
After serving in the State Department, Catharine O’Neill Gillihan was appointed as the White House liaison to USAID near the end of Trump’s first term. He contends the dismantling of USAID may have happened four years ago had Trump won in 2020. But it faced no threat when Joe Biden won the White House, she says.
“If you look at the federal workforce, and if you were to put them on a political spectrum, I would say about 97% of them are on the Left – and so they're not going to want to do some of the things that we wanted to do …. That's just the reality,” Gillihan told show host Tony Perkins.
When Kennedy created USAID through the Foreign Assistance Act, it was placed under the authority and policy guidance of the secretary of state. As DOGE is now reporting, it has strayed far from that path. Trump is trying to at least rein it back in, possibly blow it up and start over, though congressional approval may be required for the latter.
In Gillihan’s brief time as liaison, she found that USAID flouted authority and did its own thing.
“You would have two tracks – one coming out of State and one coming out of USAID – and oftentimes they weren’t on the same page," she said. “Trump’s team is doing nothing out of character or out of the law.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused USAID of “rank insubordination,” telling Fox News the organization sees itself as independent of U.S. authority.
“They don’t consider that they work for the U.S. They just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe and not the United States. That’s not what the statute says, and that’s not sustainable,” Rubio said.
As the administration cuts government spending, attitudes like those at USAID are not uncommon, according to Gillihan.
“There’s just a general malaise within federal agencies,” she stated. “There’s not a fire to get things done in government. There would be meetings to have meetings to have meetings and then to make a plan. President Trump this time is putting people in place from the private sector who know how to get things done quickly and efficiently.”
Some USAID programs will continue, but only those that align with the administration’s interests, Rubio said. And amid that restructuring, the State Department head said the U.S. will remain the “most generous nation on Earth.”
Gillian: Courts will prove Trump right
The handwringing and accusations by Democrats are overblown, Gillihan said.
“There are some programs and fundings that are mission-critical and in alignment with our national interests,” and these beneficiaries can apply for waivers to receive continued support, Gillihan said.
Though measures are in place for certain programs, some USAID employees have turned down shipments at overseas ports to make political statements, she said.
“The insubordination is so deep, and it's so out of control. Secretary Rubio has every right to do what he's doing, President Trump has every right – and I think the courts will prove that,” Gillihan predicted.
