USAID channeled vast sums for DEI, LGBTQ programs: White House

ISTANBUL (AA) – The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has channeled vast sums of money for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and LGBTQ programs in “waste” and “abuse” activities for decades, the Trump administration said.

In a statement on Monday, the White House stated that “for decades,” the USAID has been “unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels” large sums of money” into “the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats,” with minimal oversight.

The list of “waste” and “abuse” included $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, $47,000 for a ‘transgender opera’ in Colombia,” and “$32,000 for a ‘transgender comic book’ in Peru.”

It added $2 million for changing sex and ‘LGBT activism’ in Guatemala and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for a non-profit with ties to “designated terrorist organizations”— even after an inspector general opened a probe,” were also included in the list.

Stating that the list “goes on,” it added that “the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW,” under US President Donald Trump.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified Congress on Monday about the “potential reorganization” of the USAID.

President Donald Trump, earlier Monday, appointed Rubio as the acting director of USAID.

A group of Democrats were blocked from entering USAID’s headquarters Monday as they protested efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle it.

On Saturday, USAID’s website went offline, and its official X and Instagram accounts were taken down.

The recent actions against USAID come after Trump issued an executive order last month halting all foreign aid for 90 days.