President Donald Trump’s second term has put a strong focus on reducing spending at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Under Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is closely examining the foreign aid agency. This has not gone unnoticed by both America’s allies and adversaries.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the United Nations, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó openly expressed his disapproval of USAID. While clarifying that he did not wish to meddle in US internal affairs, Szijjártó did share his observations on the agency during the previous administration of President Joe Biden.
“The prior government struggled with our refusal to yield our national positions. We were adamant about safeguarding our national interests,” said Szijjártó in his conversation with Fox News Digital. “We were committed to maintaining our non-liberal, patriotic, conservative stance.”
Former President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Monday, Trump’s White House issued a list of examples of “waste and abuse” at USAID. This included $6M to fund tourism in Egypt, $1.5M in funding for DEI programs in Serbia’s workplaces, $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia and more.
The White House also accused the agency of spending “hundreds of millions of dollars” on “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” adding that this was “benefiting the Taliban.”
Trump and Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
At the end of its list, the White House noted that the highlighted examples were part of a longer list of projects.
“Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW,” the White House added.
