By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted 10th february, 2025
Dr. Mark Moyar, former director of USAID’s Office of Civilian-Military Cooperation, has alleged that during President Donald Trump’s first term, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) engaged in activities without the president’s knowledge, including humanitarian operations in Syria initiated during the Obama administration. Moyar claims that some USAID staffers, many with ties to the previous administration, deliberately concealed these operations to prevent potential cancellation by President Trump.
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Moyar also highlighted a broader “culture of corruption” within USAID, asserting that employees often rebranded programs to align with shifting political priorities. For instance, he noted that a feminist women’s book club was re-designated as a counterterrorism program under the Obama administration. He further alleged that attempts to report internal misconduct were met with retaliation, including the suspension of his security clearance and eventual termination.
In response to these concerns, the Trump administration has taken significant actions. Over 50 USAID officials have been placed on administrative leave pending investigations into allegations of circumventing presidential directives, particularly those related to halting federal aid to certain overseas programs and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This move underscores ongoing tensions between political appointees and career officials within the agency.
These developments have prompted calls for comprehensive audits and reforms within USAID to address the alleged misconduct and ensure greater accountability in the agency’s operations.
Moyer who described the activities of USAID as “flagrant corruption”, said, “I was at a meeting, and they apparently didn’t realize who I was,” he said. “They talked about how Trump would probably not like these programs, so why don’t we make sure that he never finds out about them?”
“This is a recurring problem. They hide things,” Moyer said. “We had Trump appointees who were too scared or didn’t care enough to actually push the president’s agenda.”
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Moyer’s remarks come as USAID faces increased scrutiny after tech billionaire Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched a campaign to cut government spending and remove progressive influence from executive agencies, the National Review reported.
Moyer detailed instances where USAID personnel actively worked to keep Trump and his advisers uninformed about conflicts of interest.
“I joined the first Trump administration in 2018, and I saw just what I saw was flagrant corruption, the most egregious being criminal conflict of interest,” Moyer said. “People [were] using their government jobs to get business for outside companies that they had financial stakes in.”
Moyer, the author of “Masters of Corruption” and a whistleblower, claimed that when he attempted to expose wrongdoing, agency officials retaliated by making “bogus allegations” against him.
“They suspended my security clearance and conducted some sham investigations,” he said. “Even the top political appointees were scared of the bureaucracy and particularly the security clearance bureaucracy.”
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Moyer also claimed agency bureaucrats obstructed collaboration with faith-based organizations, citing an ideological opposition to religious views on LGBTQ issues and abortion while ignoring the law.
“We had fairly few political appointees at the time,” he said. “I learned that the agency bureaucrats were preventing work with faith-based organizations based on a spurious interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which had been disproven in court.”
NOTE: Newsmax references.