A former U.S. Agency for International Development official alleged the USAID concealed its activities from President Donald Trump during his first term, including humanitarian operations in Syria dating back to the Obama administration.
Dr. Mark Moyer, the former director of USAID's Office of Civilian-Military Cooperation, appeared Saturday on Newsmax's "America Right Now," describing what he called "flagrant corruption" and efforts within the agency to operate outside White House oversight.
"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."
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."
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."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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