Here We Go: Trump Admin Considering Criminal Referrals For USAID

I was wondering if this was going to happen, because USAID and their employees, along with so many federal agencies, plays fast and loose with taxpayer money

Trump administration considering criminal referrals in USAID fight

The Trump administration is signaling it may bring criminal referrals against employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or grantee recipients over allegations of misuse of foreign assistance, which would mark an extraordinary next step in the administration’s push to gut the agency.

Peter Marocco, who is serving as acting deputy administrator for USAID, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing Wednesday that he and his staff are looking at making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

It’s unclear if Marocco will follow through on the threat, said one person who was in the room during the briefing, but they saw it as a significant signal, coming up in a meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

A January memo from the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG) laid out resistance from some aid grantees over sharing information that officials say is needed for oversight and accountability. The OIG memo highlighted $8 billion that was primarily distributed to United Nations agencies and multilateral development banks which they criticized as being shielded from scrutiny.

This is government money. Taxpayer money. This is not a case “you do not have to prove you didn’t do anything wrong.” It’s a case of “you took the money, you need to show accountability with it. What did you do with it? Was it used for the intended purpose? How much was skimmed off the top? Did the project come to fruition?”

Criminal referrals would further escalate tensions between the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department Of Government Efficiency team on one side, and government employees, foreign aid recipients and Democrats on the other. Some Republicans have privately advocated for certain programs and spending priorities behind the scenes.

Yeah, well, if they weren’t doing, let’s say generously, stupid things with the money, they would have nothing to worry about, right?

What criminal referrals would do would be to put every federal employee and every monetary recipient on notice that Bad Conduct will not be tolerated, and everything best be on the up and up, because you might not be caught for past or future Bad Behavior, but, you might! And you might well be looking at felony charges and a nice jail stay.

Democrats complained the briefing occurred behind closed doors and not publicly, lasted only one hour and permitted each lawmaker 30 seconds to ask questions, with few if any follow-ups allowed. Marocco was given two minutes to answer each question.

Perhaps the FBI should be looking at if those Democrats are getting money from these projects. Anyhow, if Democrats want to keep protecting the Bad Behavior from federal employees and the groups they give money to, keep at it!

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