Trump administration cuts US efforts to support democracy at home and abroad

In less than a month in office the Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled foreign aid programs that support fragile democracies abroad and put on leave federal workers who protect US elections at home in a move that current and former officials say abandons decades of American commitments to democracy.

In less than a month in office the Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled foreign aid programs that support fragile democracies abroad and put on leave federal workers who protect US elections at home in a move that current and former officials say abandons decades of American commitments to democracy. USAID, the main foreign aid agency, and the State Department have halted funding for democracy and human rights-focused programs. The State Department has also laid off about five-dozen contractors focused on those issues, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The Department of Homeland Security this month put on leave several employees who have worked to protect election systems from security threats at home, including advisers who work in red states on basic, nonpartisan cybersecurity measures. The damage to democracies around the world from the foreign aid cuts will be felt for years, current and former US officials told CNN. “The US government’s credibility as a defender of democracy, as a supporter for human rights, is so tarnished because of all of this” and “may never be able to recover,” said Shannon Green, who until January was a senior USAID official focused on those issues. “It’s a massive betrayal of the trust that [foreign allies] put in us and the commitments that we’ve made to them.” Vice President JD Vance on Friday told European leaders on Friday that the biggest threat to their security was “from within,” rather than China and Russia, in a speech that seemed squarely aimed at America’s traditional allies in Western Europe.