Graphic image of overlapping screenshots of Fox News chyrons which give misleading claims about USAID

Molly Butler / Media Matters

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As USAID is dismantled, right-wing media rejoice and spread baseless conspiracy theories about the agency’s work

Written by Jack Wheatley

Published

As the Trump administration seeks to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development, right-wing media figures and online influencers have repeated unsubstantiated claims about widespread fraud and criminality within the agency. 

Proponents of eliminating USAID have also criticized the agency’s projects as “woke” or as supporting left-wing political causes and spread other conspiracy theories about its operations. 

One prominent conspiracy theory is the claim that the U.S. government, including USAID, was laundering money to the news organization Politico for favorable coverage during the Biden administration. What started as a simple payroll error by the outlet quickly spiraled into false claims that Politico “was being massively funded by USAID.” In reality, conservative influencers had stumbled upon public data outlining the federal government’s payments for Politico Pro, a subscription service which tracks legislation and policy within the U.S. government.

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  • USAID is the latest government agency in the crosshairs of Trump’s effort to gut the federal government

    • Established in 1961, USAID is an independent agency which “delivers billions of dollars in humanitarian aid overseas” and “addresses a wide range of needs, from women’s health to clean water,” as reported by NBC News. [NBC News, 2/3/25]
    • On February 2, President Donald Trump told reporters, without evidence, that USAID has “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics” and that “we’re getting them out.” The next day, he repeated this statement and claimed that the agency had committed “tremendous fraud.” Days later, Trump pushed the misleading claims about Politico on Truth Social, posting that the news organization was paid off “FOR CREATING GOOD STORIES ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS” and saying that it “COULD BE THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL, PERHAPS THE BIGGEST IN HISTORY!” [NBC News, 2/2/25; BBC, 2/4/25; Truth Social, 2/6/25]
    • On February 4, CNN reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced “that he is acting administrator of the US Agency for International Development, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.” The network reported: “The news came hours after Elon Musk, the world’s richest man charged with overhauling the federal government, said President Donald Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down.” [CNN, 2/4/25]
    • On February 4, roughly 10,000 employees of the aid agency were notified that “they will be placed on administrative leave at the end of Friday,” per reporting by USA Today. The State Department “is working on a plan to arrange and pay for the return of USAID employees living overseas to the United States within 30 days and to terminate contracts not found to be essential, the notice reads.” Ahead of the administrative leave, two labor groups representing USAID employees filed a lawsuit reportedly “asking the court to block efforts to shut down USAID operations and put staff on leave.” [USA Today, 2/4/25; NPR, 2/6/25]
    • Following news of the agency’s gutting, the Center for American Progress noted that “Trump’s foreign aid freeze puts Americans and vulnerable populations in danger of disease, conflict and transnational crime while ceding overseas influence to China and Russia.” The center warned that “Trump has paused programs that strengthen the capabilities of partner nations, deter adversaries, and reduce the need for direct military intervention.” [Center for American Progress, 2/5/25]

  • Right-wing media and online figures have described USAID as a “slush fund” or “money laundering” scheme for the “deep state”

    • Conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk posted on X: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio just absolutely RIPPED the deep state slush fund known as USAID.” [Twitter/X, 2/3/25]
    • Right-wing host Dan Bongino said USAID is “about deep state pockets of money used to infiltrate governments, NGOs, and other places for an anti-American censorship agenda” and called it “probably the single greatest slush fund for the deep state you've ever seen.” [Rumble, The Dan Bongino Show, 2/4/25]
    • On his show, Fox’s Jesse Watters called USAID “one of the country's biggest soft power slush funds” and added, “Wait until you hear about all this crazy pet project stuff they have. Ready? $2.5 million to promote DEI in Serbia, a transgender opera in Colombia, a DEI musical in Ireland, and a trans comic book in Peru. Oh, and $40 million to fund gain of function in Wuhan.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 2/3/25]
    • Online influencer Jacob Creech, known online as Clandestine, wrote, “The USAID is how Deep State NGOs launder our money under the guise of foreign aid.” He added, “The rats are starting to realize they are being hunted.” [Twitter/X, 1/31/25; Anti-Defamation League, 4/5/22]
    • Conservative influencer Robby Starbuck wrote on X of USAID: “Democrats used it as their piggybank to enrich rabid activists who paid themselves enormous sums. Then they donated to Democrats. They also used it to fund fake news too.” [Twitter/X, 2/3/25]
    • On X, Rogan O’Handley, known online as DC Draino, wrote, “And now you know why Dems are freaking out that USAID is getting shut down,” claiming, “It was their little political piggy bank.” [Twitter/X, 2/4/25; Daily Dot, 4/27/23]
    • Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich called USAID a “money laundering scheme of taxpayer money.” She said Democrats are pushing back because the left is “losing their grip on their power.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/4/25]

  • Right-wing media and influencers have alleged that USAID is a “criminal organization” and is corrupt

    • Mike Cernovich, who has pushed far-right conspiracy theories, posted on X that “USAID was the Skelton key to unlocking all of the corruption. I’ve never seen Democrats so outraged about anything.” [Twitter/X, 2/3/25; Media Matters, 8/21/18]
    • On X, MAGA influencer Catturd wrote that “all corruption leads to USAID.” [Twitter/X, 2/3/25]
    • On X, right-wing content creator Benny Johnson wrote: “USAID EXPOSED: The Single Largest Criminal Fraud Operation in Human History.” He claimed, “USAID has been fully exposed as a left-wing money laundering criminal organization,” and listed a number of expenditures, some of which he said were for “DEI” and others he said “vanished without oversight” or were “lost.” He concluded, “The majority of this money never went to the ‘projects’ they claim to be promoting. It’s just pure money laundering from your tax dollars into deep state left wing activists. USAID is likely the largest fraud operation in human history.” [Twitter/X, 2/4/25]
    • Clandestine also posted: “Trump is digging in the exact area the Deep State do not want him to dig. The USAID holds the paper trail that proves their criminality!” [Twitter/X, 2/2/25]
    • On Fox News’ The Five, co-host Jeanine Pirro called USAID “a criminal organization” and claimed the agency’s funding is sent to “drag shows in Ecuador, atheism in Nepal, trans comic books in Peru.” [Fox News, The Five, 2/3/25]

  • Right-wing media attacked USAID for supporting “woke” causes like DEI programs, LGBTQ rights, and climate initiatives

    • Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum stated that “we see these agencies get designated and given money for what’s a good intention initially and then they just get bloated and bloated and bloated and next thing you know they’re giving things for gender climate issues in Tanzania.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 2/3/25]
    • On her show, Megyn Kelly said USAID has “become a left-wing organization that just funds its favorite causes." She added: “At a minimum, it deserves to be, to get a hard second look and to stop the funding until we can figure out, as President Trump infamously once said, what the hell is going on?” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 2/3/25]
    • On Fox News, host Laura Ingraham celebrated the dismantling of the agency and claimed that “in 2023, USAID sponsored scores of DEI events here and abroad.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 2/3/25]
    • Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro claimed that USAID “has been transformed into trans pride flags in Africa.” He continued, “USAID has been turned into boondoggle projects that are designed to pay millions or billions of dollars to left-wing NGOs, both in the United States and outside the United States, and keep up an entire employment line for people who are out of power. So when Republicans are in power, USAID is still paying a bunch of blue organizations to keep the trains running on time and to make sure the money continues to flow to various organizations abroad that are willing to spread social leftism.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/4/25]
    • Fox News contributor Rebecca Heinrichs claimed that USAID is “pushing things like abortion on conservative countries, or the LGBTQ issue, or climate ideology, and it aggravates our partners and allies.” She said that “sometimes it violates the consciences of our Americans who don’t even want our taxpayer dollars to go to these things.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 2/4/25]
    • On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity said everything USAID does is “radical DEI, woke, transgender, you know, leftist, Green New Deal madness.” [Premiere Radio Network, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/4/25]

  • Right-wing media and MAGA influencers latched onto misleading ties between USAID and Politico

    • On X, former Fox producer Kyle Becker wrote: “Fun Fact: @Politico received USAID funds. Everything makes sense now.” Becker attached screenshots of publicly available data regarding the federal government’s media subscriptions. [Twitter/X, 2/5/25]
    • Benny Johnson jumped on the claim, calling it “the biggest scandal in news media history,” and falsely claimed that a payroll error at the news organization proved it was “being massively funded by USAID.” He added, “The corruption is endless.” [Twitter/X, 2/5/25]
    • On Fox News, host Jesse Watters proclaimed on The Five, “The money for Politico is a huge scandal,” and falsely claimed that the subscription service “only started getting paid for by the Biden administration.” He continued attacking Politico on his nightly program, Jesse Watters Primetime, saying: “The Biden administration was paying the press,” and claiming that the Biden White House was “funneling … taxpayer money over there in exchange for good coverage.” As Media Matters reported, “In reality, the federal government paid Politico at least $1 million in each year of Trump’s presidency, increasing to $2.6 million in fiscal year 2020.” [Fox News, The Five, 2/5/25; Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 2/5/25; Media Matters, 2/6/25]
    • Fox host Will Cain also ran with the theory on Fox News, describing it as “grotesque” and claiming, “It's at a minimum subsidizing a political operation under the guise of a media. It's perhaps money laundering to ideological compatriots.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 2/5/25]