USAID IG fired day after report critical of impacts of Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency
CNN
The inspector general of the US Agency for International Development was fired on Tuesday, a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
The inspector general of the US Agency for International Development was fired on Tuesday, a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Paul Martin was informed by an email from the deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel on Tuesday evening that his position as inspector general of USAID was “terminated, effective immediately.” A spokesperson for the USAID Office of Inspector General confirmed Martin’s termination and said no reason was given for his ouster. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. Martin had served as inspector general since December 2023. While President Donald Trump fired inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies during his first week in office, the USAID watchdog had remained in place. An IG conducts investigations and audits into any potential malfeasance, fraud, waste or abuse by a government agency or its personnel, and issues reports and recommendations on its findings. An inspector general’s office is intended to operate independently. In a report Monday, the USAID OIG said that the Trump administration’s reduction of USAID personnel and its sweeping freeze on foreign assistance had made it more difficult to track and respond to potential misuse of $8.2 billion in US taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance. The Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle USAID in recent weeks, attempting to put thousands of direct-hire USAID employees on leave and removing scores of contractors who work for the agency. Last Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked those plans and halted the accelerated removal of staffers from countries around the world.
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