A top Obama- and Biden-era official is under scrutiny for her role overseeing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Her name is Samantha Power and she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017 and as the USAID administrator from 2021 to early 2025.
When she was chosen to lead USAID in 2021, Republicans expressed opposition to her appointment because of her anti-Israel record, including her decision in 2016 to abstain from a U.N. Security Council resolution claiming Israel’s presence in Jerusalem was illegal.
Disgusting! Samantha Power abstains from UN’s anti-#Israel resolution.
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) December 23, 2016
Republicans also voiced displeasure with her past work against current President Donald Trump and his allies.
“Power was directly involved in the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and sought to obtain Michael Flynn’s redacted identity using an ‘unmasking’ request on at least seven occasions,” according to Fox News.
“Power was ‘unmasking’ at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016, and she even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration,” Fox News notes.
Fox News notes that her tenure at USAID often involved “meeting with influential liberal foundations,” including those owned by billionaire leftist George Soros and billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Moreover, her tenure also reportedly involved the funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, as well as the funding of LGBT programs in other nations — even those innately opposed to the LGBT ideology.
Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people? https://t.co/YVwyKA7ifs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
Power is back in the spotlight now thanks to the work the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been completing.
Power and her supporters have defended her work by saying it was critical to USAID providing assistance to Ukraine, Gaza, Haiti, Armenia, and Sudan, among other places.
“The best testament to USAID’s contribution is the surge in PRC-backed and Russian-backed propaganda maligning USAID and our work around the world,” she told Politico last month.
“And it’s really picked up a lot over the last year and a half. We counted 81 malicious and false propaganda campaigns, really dedicated campaigns, aimed at denigrating USAID and our reputation. So we’re doing something that is getting on their nerves,” she added.
She doubled down this week during an appearance on “The Late Show.”
“Programs that were running, the people we’re depending on, in some cases, for life-saving medicine, like medicine, if you have HIV, that keeps you alive, quite literally,” she said. “Or if you’re in Sudan and you have a child who’s wasting away because of malnutrition, a miracle paste, a peanut paste that USAID provides brings that kid back from the brink of death. All of those programs are shuttered.”
But DOGE boss Elon Musk has refused to fall for the hype and has instead pledged to shut down USAID altogether.
USAID is a criminal organization.
Time for it to die. https://t.co/sWYy6fyt1k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
“On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership, and specially designated programs,” USAID’s website currently states. “Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00 pm (EST).”
USAID has faced allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption for quite some time now.
Last year, Sen. Tom Cotton sent Power a letter raising concerns about the “likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023.”
A month after he sent the letter, a Syrian national was reportedly charged for diverting $9 million in U.S. aid to terrorist groups like the Al-Nusrah Front.
President Trump for his part has repeatedly proposed slashing USAID’s funding, saying in 2017 that “with $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt.”
Despite the massive opposition Trump and Musk face from Democrats, one Democrat strategist has predicted that the battle will ultimately play out in their favor.
“My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID [protesting], but my head tells me: ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight,’” strategist David Axelrod told Politico. “When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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