Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Owen

Everything but tech support.
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1742, 02 Feb 25

DOGE v. USAID

DOGE for the win. It appears that USAID was just a gigantic grift machine. How many agencies does our government need to dole out our cash?

Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.

According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.

The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.

[…]

The condemnation from the tech billionaire underscores mounting reports that President Donald Trump intends to abolish USAID, an independent federal agency, and fold it into the US State Department. Other top Trump officials, such as Stephen Miller, who serves as deputy chief of staff for policy at the White House, have also taken aim at USAID, accusing its workforce of being overwhelmingly Democrats.

On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday.

Shortly after being sworn in last month, Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days, leading to widespread confusion, layoffs and program shutdowns.

USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy are among dozens of USAID officials who have been put on leave amid fears that the agency is being intentionally dismantled — a move that some aid officials argue would have massive negative implications.

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1742, 02 February 2025

17 Comments

  1. dad29

    It’s well-known that USAID is controlled by the CIA. Also note that USAID sent money to NGOs which spent money on local DA races; those races were also supported by TIDES and the Soros outfits.

    But it would be a bad move to subsume USAID into State. State is–arguably–the Deep State’s largest refuge and has–for years–been supporting policies and governments which are in direct opposition to US interests or even right order. (Tranny education, abortion, birth control implantation, etc.)

  2. MjM

    Now do DOGE v. Treasury.

  3. Merlin

    Apparently lil’ Marco has already taken over as acting director.

  4. Merlin

    Well, well, well. Musk and his geek squad are turning over all kinds of rocks.

    Rabid anti-Trumper Bill Kristol’s Defending Democracy has been an indirect beneficiary of the USAID slush fund through Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors… by way of the Hopewell Fund. At least $2m worth of taxpayer money. Old Billy whored out for cheap.

  5. Merlin

    Heh.

    Over $8m across hundreds of USAID grants to Politico. Plus 37 pro subscriptions at $14,000 per.

    Zero Hedge has an article indicating up to $32m from various US agencies to Politico during Obama 3.0.

    Pop some popcorn… the revelations are just getting started.

  6. Mike

    https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1887147292412490111

    Benny Johnson

    @bennyjohnson
    This is the biggest scandal in news media history:

    No employee at Politico got paid yesterday. First time ever the company missed a pay period. This is a crisis.

    Now we learn Politico — a “news company” — which spent the last 10 years trying to destroy the MAGA Movement was being massively funded by USAID.

    Trump & Elon deleted their funding.

    Now Politico will go out of business.

    The corruption is endless.

    Good riddance

  7. jonnyv

    Mike. Politico is different than Politico Pro. Educate yourself before repeating mindless takes you find on X of all places.

  8. Merlin

    Same daddy. Same pockets. Politico is free for the masses while Politico Pro is an expensive subscription service. Both have high propaganda value. The only difference from yesterday is that the federal government is no longer a client. Maybe.

  9. Tuerqas

    >Mike. Politico is different than Politico Pro. Educate yourself before repeating mindless takes you find on X of all places.

    I am not sure what you are trying to say there, JV. Politico has been spewing anti-Trump crap and ‘debunking’ any and every left failure as right hate speech for many years and they have been receiving the illicit funds. Are you trying to say that only Politico Pro has been receiving money and the sudden money problems Politico is having is unrelated? What are you trying to teach there?

  10. Mike

    Politico pro is a subscription level of Politico.
    I would be curious to know how many non-government entities have a Politico pro subscription.

  11. jonnyv

    Same company. Two COMPLETELY different services. Pro is primarily a legislative tracking service. Compare it to the Bloomberg service that tracks stocks in the background. Politico and Pro are separate and independent. Feel free to read more on it. But sure… continue to be uninformed.

    And my favorite takes are that because Politico reports on MAGA that they are anti-Trump. Feel free to point me to the “fake news”.

    I am just sitting here watching Musk trample the constitution and do things that Republicans screamed about for years. 404 Media, The Verge and Wired are all great sources of info on this.

  12. Tuerqas

    JV
    So pro is for the professional extremists and std politico is to misinform the masses. I am still not sure what your point is. Politico has been a professional hitter against the right and apologists and hiders of the truth favoring the left. Are you trying to say that only one accepted “Aid” from the US while the other didn’t? Or are you complaining that Politico received 8 million while pro only received 1/2 a million (largely rhetorical)? Politico is the criminal, being paid to lie to the masses.

    I don’t give 2 shits about Pro, they cater to their own clientele, though paying for the subscriptions with public money is likely still BS too (at least to the tune of $14,000/year). So all this whining is about how Mike added $518,000 of Politico Pro graft to the Politico fraud having been committed over the years of its Dem Governmental financial support and how that should be separate? Ok Fine, take off the 37 subscriptions from Mike’s comment and give us a lib reaction about just Politico.
    1)The fact seems to be that Politico can’t pay its bills the same week that illicit funds from our USAID office dried up. If it doesn’t have enough liquidity to pay its employees the same week it loses illegally provided Government funds, doesn’t it mean that it is almost entirely supported by the Democrat provided money?
    If not, what does it mean?

    I read a wired article on Elon Musk’s ‘takeover’ of Government. That piece, at least, has zero data pointing to illegal or unconstitutional activity though the indirect allegations are there. Choose which parts of the constitution you think are clearly being trampled and list which ones you believe are most obvious. Keep in mind that all public offices have supposedly public records of salaries, aid given and in fact, any non-classified money spent by Government. Most of the Wired report I read are about access given to Musk’s people. I saw nothing illegal or unconstitutional about it, despite the implications. What are you sitting there watching? So far, Musk has only offered suggestions of what to cut in the budget, but Wired is accusing him of putting ‘his people’ in Governmental positions. I see they called out ‘at least’ 6 young men by name who are part of Musk’s team to try and gain outrage or something by age shaming, but aside from pointing out that at least one of them currently has a DOGE email (listing him as a volunteer), Wired listed nothing that their current assignment shouldn’t have.
    2) Please list a few constitutional laws/rules that DOGE (or Musk individually) has trampled.

    3) I don’t recall Republicans screaming about a Government agency that was created to trim Governmental waste spending and theft, what were you referring to? Trampling the Constitution is a Dem trademark is that what you meant?. Whatever you were referring to please answer accordingly.

    3 honest questions/requests, Care to respond to them JV?

  13. MjM

    JV lies, just like Politico: Politico and Pro are separate and independent.

    From Politico Pro’s website:

    POLITICO Pro is staffed by a dedicated reporting team within the POLITICO newsroom.

    POLITICO provides accurate, nonpartisan, impactful information to the right people at the right time.

    Since its launch in 2011, POLITICO Pro has evolved from a subscription news service built on POLITICO’s mission to a comprehensive policy intelligence platform.

    Feel free to read more on it.

    Politico lies, just like JV: POLITICO Pro provides nonpartisan and trusted coverage.

  14. Jason

    Isn’t that funny MJM?

    One day, jv says “Educate yourself before repeating mindless takes you find ”

    The next day he’s vomiting the same bullshit the Left MSM is handing out.

    I’m quite enthralled with the left on this – Early on the USAID drama… the left is saying “OMG, starving children and pregnant women are going to die if we even look at USAID’s books”. Now that some details of those books are coming out they have pivoted to “OMG, so what we sent 1.5 million to Serbia to teach LGBTQ’s how to milk chickens… our deficit is 9 TRILLION!”

    I’m wondering… if Politico Pro is – and note, these are ESTIMATES ONLY – between 10k and 14k… and USAID spent 8 MILLION last year… why do they need anywhere from 571 and 800 subscriptions? Do they have 571 – 800 people that need the “primarily a legislative tracking service”

    Oh and one last thing, rumor has it, the subscriptions to Politico Pro started when Biden took office Prior to that $0 was washed through Politico. Hmmm.

  15. Jason

    Oh and one last thing. Musk is a turd of a human and I don’t like him at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if he spends much of his day reading through X DM’s. I have zero trust in him. But someone needs to take an axe to the Fed Machina and get control of where our extorted tax dollars are going.

  16. Jason

    Ah the hypocrisy

    A few left politicians on about repairs spend on a house that Hegseth is going to rent…

    “The highly paid TV personality wants the public to cover this and other living expenses at a time when many servicemembers and their families reside in unacceptable housing conditions that include mold, lead paint, and other hazards,”

    And yet those same dems are lock-step defending USAID that spent 2 Million for “ACTIVITY TO STRENGTHEN TRANS-LED ORGANIZATIONS TO DELIVER GENDER-AFFIRMING HEALTH CARE, ADVOCATE FOR IMPROVED QUALITY AND ACCESS TO SERVICES, AND PROVIDE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OPPORTUNITIES.” in Guatemala – ASOCIACION LAMBDA.

    Asociacion Lambda, looks like a busy place, a great place to hand out 2 million dollars of my money… https://www.google.com/maps/place/Asociaci%C3%B3n+LAMBDA/@14.6352304,-90.5206424,3a,89.6y,302.75h,89.23t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPkUzGy02oxR51daW_w_M8aBPz29sHg9k97r2Ig!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPkUzGy02oxR51daW_w_M8aBPz29sHg9k97r2Ig%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi0.7729254749399388-ya292.03854553849595-ro0-fo100!7i5760!8i2880!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x8589a2216de40145:0x69ccb535ecab9b2c!2sAsociaci%C3%B3n+LAMBDA!8m2!3d14.6353923!4d-90.521485!16s%2Fg%2F11g7zh2mpc!3m5!1s0x8589a2216de40145:0x69ccb535ecab9b2c!8m2!3d14.6353923!4d-90.521485!16s%2Fg%2F11g7zh2mpc?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

  17. jonnyv

    Jason claims I am spouting Main Street media points. What he doesn’t say is that they are the TRUTH!

    8 million among all the gov. Not USAID. Why do they need that many licenses? Probably because it is against terms of service to share them. Pretty standard stuff. USAID paid 24k last year. That’s 1 or 2 licenses probably.

    Republicans House committee paid 58k to them.

    I also agree that we need to slash budgets. I would start in the military and DoD. Also let the tax cuts expire. But it has to be done the right way. Congress decides the purse. Not the President. All DOGE can do is make recommendations. And there is no way they should have anything other than read-only access to anything. Congress is required to do budgeting.

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