Donald Trump has illegally fired USAID Inspector General Paul Martin without the mandatory 30 days’ notice to Congress after Martin exposed him for risking spoiling $500 million in food aid with his federal aid freeze.
Trump has caused widespread chaos with his order to freeze foreign federal aid. Not many Americans seem even to be aware of all the damage he has caused by unnecessarily freezing life-saving and vital programs. For example, many countries are bracing for exponential rises in HIV cases as treatment programs are halted, and many U.S. farmers are at risk of losing their land as frozen USDA funds leave them on the hook for millions of dollars. Farmers face additional uncertainties as Trump’s desire to dismantle the USAID may mean the department will no longer purchase food from U.S. farmers to distribute worldwide as part of its humanitarian efforts.
It’s already terrible enough that the Trump administration wants to destroy an agency that feeds starving children worldwide. However, Martin recently released an even more shocking report in which he highlighted how Trump is willing to let hundreds of millions in food aid go to waste in his desperation to stop USAID’s humanitarian efforts. Unfortunately, his report led to swift retaliation from Trump.
USAID IG Paul Martin fired after shocking report
On February 10, Martin released a scathing report exposing the Trump administration for potentially wasting $500 million in food aid. When funds were frozen, all of USAID’s services, including its global food assistance, were halted. The problem is that it froze funds and resources already available and designated for humanitarian efforts. As a result, about $500 million worth of food aid is currently just sitting in ports, ships, and warehouses. Martin’s report noted that 500,000 metric tons of food are on ships. This food was already prepared, loaded, and ready to go abroad. However, Trump’s freeze means all these prepared and designated food products aren’t going anywhere. If it keeps sitting there, it will spoil and end up in landfills.
Martin’s report also noted how Trump’s aggressive takedown of USAID made it impossible for him to track over $8.2 billion in U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance. These were unspent funds designated for humanitarian use but are now untrackable and at high risk of misuse. These claims required an urgent response from the Trump administration. It is simply unacceptable for the administration to so carelessly handle billions of taxpayer dollars and to be so desperate to stop humanitarian efforts that they’d rather $500 million in food go to waste than abroad. So far, the only response was Trump abruptly and illegally firing Martin the day after his report.
Martin remained in place at the USAID despite Trump’s previous mass firing of inspectors general and purge of USAID, which makes it impossible to miss the retaliatory factor in the termination. Additionally, Trump notified Martin via e-mail that he was fired, effective immediately, without explanation. The firing of inspectors general requires 30 days’ notice to Congress and a specific reason for the termination. Trump provided neither. As TikTok reporter Aaron Parnas noted, “That’s illegal.”
Inspectors general work as watchdogs independent of the president and agency aids. Their job is to investigate and identify any fraud or abuse by a government agency. Trump’s illegal firing of Martin sends a chilling message that inspectors general will be met with retaliation if they do their jobs and hold the Trump administration accountable for its fraud and abuse. The whole situation is highly alarming. Trump claims that he’s freezing funds out of a necessity to stop waste and abuse, but Martin’s report strongly suggests that he’s the one wasting potentially billions in taxpayer dollars and food aid. However, instead of answering for its deeds, the Trump administration has disposed of one of the last individuals trying to oversee USAID activity.
Published: Feb 12, 2025 01:09 pm