Dozens of senior officials at the U.S. agency responsible for administering foreign aid were placed on leave Monday amid an investigation into alleged resistance to President Donald Trump’s directives.
According to Politico, at least 56 officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were put on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. Additionally, a current and former official told the Associated Press that several hundred contractors based in Washington and other locations were also laid off.
These actions follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s implementation of Trump’s executive order, which temporarily halted all U.S. foreign aid funded by or through the State Department and USAID. The 90-day suspension has disrupted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development, and security programs worldwide, forcing aid organizations to lay off hundreds of employees due to an inability to meet payroll obligations, the reports said.
According to the AP, an internal USAID notice sent to staffers late Monday said new acting administrator Jason Gray had identified “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.”
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,” Gray noted in the memo.
The notice did not specify which of the many executive orders signed by Trump USAID officials allegedly violated, according to the AP. “Rubio has specifically exempted only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance,” Fox News added.
Trump has been a vocal critic of foreign aid, calling for a comprehensive review of U.S. assistance programs to identify those that prioritize American interests and eliminate those that do not.
The United States remains the world’s largest provider of foreign aid. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. distributed $72 billion in assistance and accounted for 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.
In other administration news, Trump on Monday announced the deployment of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to North Carolina to assist with repairing riverbanks and roads damaged by Hurricane Helene.
During his visit to the state on Friday, Trump expressed frustration with the Biden administration’s delayed response to the devastation in western North Carolina, saying he did not know “what took so long” and pledging that his administration would provide “the resources” and support needed to help the affected communities rebuild.
“We have a lot of things in mind, and we’re getting the Army Corps of Engineers all set,” Trump said. “You need your riverbanks fixed. You need a lot of roads fixed. And, we’re going to get it done in rapid time, and I’ve asked Susie Wiles and all of my people to start calling up.
“Get the Corps ready, and they’re going to get ready to go. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what took so long for the other administration,” Trump added, per Breitbart News.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has roughly “37,000 dedicated Civilians and Soldiers delivering engineering services to customers in more than 130 countries worldwide,” works “diligently to strengthen” the security of the U.S. “by building and maintaining America’s infrastructure and providing military facilities where our servicemembers train, work and live,” according to the organization’s website.
The site adds: “Under the National Response Framework (NRF) and authorities of the Stafford Act; USACE works under the direction of FEMA as a member of the federal team to support State and Local governments in responding to major disasters.”
Trump made sure to tell local residents during his visit that he wasn’t in office “for the first four months or three months, whatever it may be” and added that his administration could “only start” as of a few days ago.
“We’re going to get you the resources you need and the support that you deserve. And, we’ll be at your side through every step of the rebuilding and no American is going to be left behind,” Trump said, according to Breitbart.
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