Audit USAID… Then Shut it Down!

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by RON PAUL

As of this writing, when you attempt to access the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) website or social media pages you are informed, “This site can’t be reached.” The media reports that the new Trump Administration has not only frozen USAID activities but may be planning on bringing it back under control of the U.S. State Department.  Other reports, including statements by Elon Musk, suggest it will be closed completely.

If true, the closing of USAID may be one of the most significant changes president Donald Trump has made among many dramatic actions in his first couple of weeks in office. Many Americans may still have the idea that USAID is a government agency delivering relief at disaster sites overseas. They may still remember the bags of rice or grain with the USAID logo on them. But that is not USAID.

USAID is a key component of the federal government’s “regime change” operations worldwide. USAID spends billions of dollars every year propping up “NGOs” overseas that function as shadow governments, eating away at elected governments that American interventionists want to overthrow. Behind most U.S. foreign policy disasters overseas you will see the fingerprints of USAID. From Ukraine to Georgia and far beyond, USAID is meddling in the internal affairs of foreign countries – something that would infuriate Americans if it was happening to us.

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When President Trump ordered a 90-day pause in USAID activities, we quickly learned just how pernicious the agency really is. The U.S. media reported that Ukrainian press outlets were scrambling to keep their doors open when the American dollars stopped flowing. It is reported that 90 percent of the media outlets are funded by the U.S. government!

This means there is virtually no independent media in Ukraine, only fake news outlets willing to toe the U.S. Administration’s propaganda line. Does anyone think these wholly U.S.-funded “news” outlets would ever publish a story the U.S. government did not want published?

This is plainly immoral, but it is also dangerous. Most U.S. mainstream media stories about Ukraine have their origins in the “reporting” of the local media. From battlefield news to casualties to the state of the Ukrainian military, the “news” from Ukraine is being written by U.S. government-backed media outlets and then picked up by U.S. and other western media. It is a closed propaganda loop that not only propagandizes the U.S. citizen but also feeds false information into U.S. government outlets – such as congress – that rely on mainstream U.S. media reporting for their news on Ukraine.

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“No wonder so many in Washington continue to support this hopeless war!”

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No wonder so many in Washington continue to support this hopeless war!

But USAID is not just in the business of disinformation. Elon Musk recently re-posted a New York Post article on X reporting that USAID funneled $53 million to EcoHealth Alliance to support gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab!

Did USAID help fund COVID? Americans have a right to know.

In natural catastrophes overseas Americans have shown themselves to be extremely generous. Private volunteer assistance organizations can more effectively assist victims of disasters worldwide.

USAID needs a full and transparent audit. Americans deserve to know exactly what is being done in their name overseas. Then the agency needs to be shuttered completely, and its employees sent home. That would go a long way toward making America great again.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.

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