Trump administration fires 2,000 USAID employees amid controversy with India

India Today

Trump's administration fired 2,000 USAID staff amid claims of misdirected funds, sparking India's rebuttal.

Transcript

00:00More news coming in, Trump's big crackdown on USAID, 2,000 people have been sacked.

00:11The president has fired employers of the USAID, Trump to eliminate 1,600 USAID jobs in the

00:17U.S.

00:18Trump places thousands of USAID staff on leave.

00:22The Trump administration to eliminate these jobs in the U.S.

00:26The administration says and notices that is firing 2,000 workers and placing thousands

00:31of others on leave is what the AP has reported now.

00:35Shashank Mattu getting in more details on that point on that big story.

00:41Shashank, this was but inevitable given the kind of noise that was made around USAID in

00:46the prime in the precedents, you know, sheer dislike for the organization and for the kind

00:51of work that it had done that Trump had very, very vocally, you know, criticized, isn't

01:02it?

01:05We'll connect with Shashank Mattu in a moment from now, but this is a big crackdown on USAID.

01:09Donald Trump has spoken about the fact that the organization did work which was to harm

01:14in fact the interest of the people of America, including providing funds to countries like

01:19India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

01:22Now 2,000 employees of USAID are getting fired by Donald Trump.

01:27Shashank Mattu is back with us.

01:29Shashank, this was but expected given the president's disdain for the organization.

01:33No, you're absolutely right.

01:35Look, USAID by many accounts is the world's largest humanitarian aid agency, dispensed

01:40around $44 billion in humanitarian aid last year.

01:44But the Trump administration has been very clear about its dislike for the agency and

01:48what it represents.

01:50It believes that countries around the world are taking advantage of America.

01:52America gives and gives and gives, but gets very little back in return.

01:55They would much rather invest that foreign aid in the United States into domestic priorities

02:02and not engage as much internationally.

02:04There have been serious concerns about USAID, what its activities have been in foreign countries

02:10as has been seen in the recent controversy in India around voter turnout funding.

02:16But regardless of that, many analysts have also pointed out that the destination of USAID

02:20also opens up a door for China to go into very strategic and sensitive parts of the

02:24world and fill up the gap that America is leaving behind and meeting the needs of a

02:28lot of developing nations that need USAID funding.

02:31So while America has been very, very clear that it wants to turn more inward, deploy

02:37more of that money domestically, it may also turn out to be something that is damaging

02:42for its foreign policy long term.

02:43So at this point in time, we'll have to see how the story develops.

02:45That's right.

02:46Shashank, getting in those details.

02:47As far as that big development is concerned, Trump placing thousands of USAID staff on

02:52leave and firing many of them.

02:53We have more news coming in.

02:55As far as the USAID is concerned, essentially, Finance Ministry has said no U.S. voter turnout

03:02funds amid raging political controversy over USAID's alleged role influencing Indian elections.

03:08The latest annual report of the Finance Ministry has said the agency funded seven projects

03:14worth $750 million in 2023-2024.

03:19During the year, no funding was made for enhancing voter turnout but to projects related to agriculture

03:24and food security program, water, sanitation and hygiene, renewable energy, disaster management

03:31and health.

03:32External Affairs Minister S.J.

03:33Shankar on Saturday said the information put out by the Trump administration is concerning

03:38and that the government is looking into it.

03:41I'm going back to Shashank for more on that.

03:43Shashank, what does this technically mean?

03:46That the USAID funding was done to government organizations, to government initiatives in

03:502023-2024 and in that sense, this political dispensation, this government has got some

03:57answering to do, isn't it?

03:59Well, absolutely.

04:00In many cases, this is what has been, these are the questions that have been raised from

04:03the very beginning about this USAID controversy.

04:07When it came up, which is that look, USAID has provided around $3 billion in funding

04:11to governments across political dispensations for the last 25 years.

04:17And it's also very clear that India and the Indian government is very careful about allowing

04:21foreign organizations to come into India and fund activities that are related to India's

04:26democratic process.

04:27It's very, very sensitive about those sorts of investments in Indian politics.

04:31It doesn't want any political interference.

04:33And so, the question had always stuck around as to how, as Donald Trump alleged, $21 million

04:38is being used for voter turnout in India when India's government is itself very vigilant

04:41about something like this and that USAID has been an established partner for ministries

04:45across the board.

04:46Regardless, the idea was that various ministries would launch a review, look at their partnerships

04:51with USAID and see where something has come up because if the President of the United

04:55States is making an accusation, you had better take it seriously.

04:58So everyone has looked into their respective records.

05:01Now, this is coming out from the finance ministry that there is no record of anything

05:04like voter turnout being funded by the United States government.

05:08We're also likely to see other ministries carry out reviews and find out whether there

05:12was in fact any exposure or any funding for any project that might resemble something

05:16like this.

05:17But there have already been questions being raised about whether Donald Trump was in fact

05:20mistaken, whether the money was in fact sent to Bangladesh and not to India.

05:23So these are open questions at this point in time, but regardless, the government is

05:26taking it seriously.

05:27It is saying that the USAID was allowed here in good faith.

05:30They have funded projects in good faith.

05:32But if they engage in bad faith activities, we're going to be launching a review to see

05:35what happens.

05:36But so far, as the finance ministry report indicates that there is no indication just

05:39yet that this $21 million was actually given for voter turnout.

05:42But other ministries are launching their reviews as well, and we should have more clarity on

05:45that moving forward.

05:46All right, this was not for voter turnout last year, but for other things like spending

05:51on hygiene, spending on other initiatives of the government like water, for example,

05:56and development.

05:57We'll leave it at that for the moment, Trashank, as that story, as those revelations continue

06:01to play out domestically back home here in the country between the BJP and the Congress.

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