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President Donald Trump’s administration is working to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development — the very agency that the president’s wife and daughter promoted seven years ago.
The president has threatened to end USAID, which provides humanitarian assistance around the globe. Earlier this week, Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency and Trump’s “First Buddy,” took aim at the agency, calling it a “criminal organization.”
“Time for it to die,” he added.
Days later, the White House announced Friday its plans to retain just over 600 of the federal agency’s 10,000 employees, slightly more than the 300 staff the administration had previously planned to keep on.
But the president’s recent efforts stand in stark contrast to Melania and Ivanka Trump’s comments during his first term, ABC News first reported.
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In the fall of 2018, the first lady embarked on a solo trip to four countries in Africa — Egypt, Ghana, Malawi and Kenya. When she announced her trip, Melania said: “There are many programs across the country that are doing great things for children, and I believe we can replicate many of these programs overseas. This is why I am pleased to be working closely with USAID as I prepare for my first major International trip to Africa.”
In Egypt, she thanked President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi for hosting her before praising the under-fire agency.
“It was a nice opportunity to see the pyramids in person, which are truly a historical treasure,” she said.
“We must always do our best to preserve such important historical sites, and I was so pleased to learn of the work that USAID has done to help with preservation efforts at the base of the Sphinx.”
In Malawi, she visited a school that receives education assistance from USAID. There, she met teachers, students, and their parents and oversaw the donation of soccer balls, classroom supplies and 1.4 million textbooks. She also “discussed the importance of educating and empowering youth and lauded USAID’s continued efforts to increase access to education for children in Malawi,” according to White House archives.
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It’s unclear what USAID’s presence will be in Africa going forward. On Thursday, plans showed only 12 people were slated to work in the continent.
A year later, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and then-senior adviser, led the “Women’s Global Development and Prosperity” initiative, which sought to empower 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. Trump directed USAID to allocate $50 million to the initiative.
Ivanka told ABC News at the time of WGDP’s launch: “We know there’s a correlation between gender inequality and conflict. There’s tremendous amounts of research. There’s a reason today, the president signed WGDP as a national security presidential memorandum…It’s in our domestic security interests to empower women.”
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Trump’s second administration has made his shift in priorities clear.
For decades USAID “has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,” a White House memo this week states. “Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW.”
When asked about the shift, a White House spokesperson blamed the former president, telling The Independent in a statement: “Joe Biden enabled millions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse at USAID and across the federal bureaucracy. President Trump was given a mandate to cut spending that does not effectively use taxpayer dollars or align with the America First agenda, and he is delivering.”
