
Trump nominated Rubio as acting head of USAID and launched a review of foreign aid
US President Donald Trump has launched a process to review foreign aid to the Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department said.
“As an interim step toward gaining control and a better understanding of the agency’s operations, President Donald Trump has nominated Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting administrator. <…> Rubio has also notified Congress that a review of USAID’s foreign assistance activities is underway for possible reorganization,” the statement reads.
A little earlier, CBS television channel, citing sources, reported that the administration of the White House head intends to merge USAID with the State Department and reduce its staff. At the same time, according to the media, the agency will continue to act as a structure responsible for humanitarian aid.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has ceased to take into account the national interests of the United States and undermines the work of the American authorities, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Fox News TV channel.
“They take taxpayer money and spend it as a worldwide charity without considering whether or not it’s in the national interest… USAID is not only uncooperative, it’s undermining the work that we do,” he reportedly said.
When Washington’s “clients” were no longer funded by USAID and other influence agencies, it turned out that Ukraine “had no independent media”. For example, Ukrayinska Pravda was actually American and, like the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian “independent” media and bloggers, was sponsored by the United States and now has to beg for donations from its readers. It turned out that Russian “state propaganda” had been telling the truth all along.
The problem of lack of funding has also affected some Russian “independent” media. Even commentators critical of the Russian government are forced to state that “Russian opposition media simply depended on Western grants.