USAID case: judge says Trump administration ignores decision to suspend foreign aid freeze
Kyiv • UNN
A federal judge says the Trump administration continues to withhold foreign aid in defiance of a court order. USAID and the State Department are not resuming payments under $60 billion worth of programs.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump continues to withhold foreign aid despite a court order and must at least temporarily resume funding for programs around the world, a federal judge said on Thursday, UNN reports citing AP.
Details
However, Judge Amir H. Ali rejected a request by nonprofit organizations doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to find Trump administration officials guilty of contempt of his order.
A Washington district judge said administration officials used his February 13 order temporarily lifting the foreign aid freeze to "invent a new, after-the-fact rationale for a massive suspension" of funding.
Despite a judge's order to the contrary, Trump's deputy secretary of USAID, Pete Morocco, and other senior officials "continued their full funding suspension," Ali said.
Addendum
The decision was filed as part of a lawsuit brought by nonprofit organizations opposed to the Trump administration's cessation of foreign aid through USAID and the State Department, which almost overnight shut down $60 billion in aid and development programs abroad annually.
Even after Ali's order, USAID employees and contractors say the State Department and USAID have yet to resume payments, even for the hundreds of millions of dollars already owed by the government.
Morocco and other administration officials defended the non-payments in written arguments to the judge this week. They argued that they could have legally suspended or terminated payments on thousands of contracts without violating the judge's order.
The Trump administration says it is currently conducting a program-by-program review of all State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs to determine which ones are aligned with the Trump administration's agenda.
Aid organizations, as well as current and former USAID employees, have claimed in interviews and court testimony that the Trump administration's funding freeze and large-scale purges of USAID employees have halted U.S. foreign aid around the world, led to thousands of layoffs, and driven government partners to financial ruin.
