US President Donald Trump fired the independent inspector general of the US agency for international development ( USAID), according to US media reports from Wednesday.
Paul Martin’s departure came a time after his department issued a statement critical of the Trump administration’s attempts to destroy the company, the Washington Post, CNN and some reported.
They cited a two-sentence message from the White House sent on Tuesday to Martin telling him his place was “terminated, successful immediately”, but with no description of the reasons for the decision.
After the Trump administration implemented an support ice and stop-work order, his ministry’s report had warned that more than$ 489 million in food aid was in danger of spoiling or possible escape.
The report stated that it had longer “identified major challenges and made recommendations to improve company programming to stop scams, waste, and abuse.”
” However, recent widespread staffing cuts across the organization… coupled with confusion about the opportunity of foreign aid discounts and permissible connections with consultants, has degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian support”.
Trump had already fired 18 inspectors general, who are independent watchdogs of the federal government, but Martin appointed by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had remained in place.
Trump, who began his second term last month, has launched a crusade led by his top donor Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government.
The focus of the most recent controversy has been on USAID, the main source of US humanitarian aid distributed throughout the world through health and emergency programs in around 120 nations.
A budget of$ 42.8 billion, or 42 % of all humanitarian aid distributed worldwide, is managed by USAID.
In its struggle for influence with rivals, including China, it was seen as a crucial source of soft power for the United States.
The Trump administration has begun cutting down USAID’s 10, 000-employee staff to only 300, and has ordered thousands of employees with international backgrounds to return to the country.
The legality of the onslaught is being challenged by labor unions. A federal judge ordered a pause on Friday to the administration’s plan to put 2, 200 USAID workers on paid leave by the weekend.
Democrats contend that Trump’s deliberations without the legislature’s consent would be unconstitutional.
