Trump may pursue criminal charges against USAID employees after DOGE reveals alleged misconduct

Federal workers at USAID might face imprisonment due to fraud following the revelation of a significant spending scandal by DOGE, as reported by DailyMail.com.

During a briefing to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill, Pete Marocco, the deputy administrator-designate at USAID, discussed the assessment of foreign aid under President Donald Trump.

Marocco mentioned that he is contemplating submitting criminal referrals to the Justice Department based on the actions uncovered within USAID by Elon Musk’s DOGE.

‘Apparently, there’s still judicial action that has even come out as late as this morning,’ Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, who was in the meeting, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

‘They intend to refer USAID officials to DOJ,’ he shared, noting how fraud ‘is a criminal act.’

The Republican shared that Marocco left open the possibility that both USAID workers and grant recipients could be recommended for crimes. 

‘If they are detecting outright fraud, not just bad programs, not just ignoble programs, not just programs that don’t support the national interest of the United States, if they’re finding fraud, then, absolutely’ the wrongdoers should be prosecuted, Rep. Self said. 

Pete Marocco, a political appointee focused on gutting USAID, departs after briefing the House Foreign Affairs Committee behind closed doors, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. During the meeting he told lawmakers that criminal recommendations against those involved with USAID fraud are being considered

U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., walks past protesters as Pete Marocco, deputy administrator-designate at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), attends a meeting with members of Congress to discuss foreign assistance

People hold placards, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 3, 2025

Self noted that Marocco and USAID would not share their plans for criminal recommendations unless they had a rock solid ‘paper trail.’

‘You’re going to have to have a paper trail to to prove that,’ Self added. ‘And I doubt that they would refer anyone without a very strong paper trail.’  

Another source in the meeting who spoke to DailyMail.com confirmed the potential legal action. 

‘Marocco briefed the full House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrats and Republicans, that the waste, fraud, and abuse at USAID was more severe than initially presumed,’ the source shared.

‘He told lawmakers that multiple referrals to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution were being considered,’ they continued. 

‘The conduct in question arose because of USAID’s decentralized accountability system that often left grantees on the ground using American tax dollars in ways that were both inappropriate and potentially illegal,’ the source disclosed. 

Though Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been tasked to lead USAID, Marocco is the one running point on many of the agency’s operations.

DOGE leader Elon Musk with Trump. Musk has said that USAID is a ‘criminal organization’ 

A young man carries a USAID 50kg bag of Sorghum delivered by small boats to a makeshift port meeting the flood water at the dam protecting the Bentiu IDP camp in Bentiu, South Sudan, July 26, 2023

Thousands of employees have been put on administrative leave after Musk noted that the agency was rotten to the core with fraud. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing last month about the wasteful spending found at USAID and the State Department.

During the session Republicans decried frivolous projects like ‘$2 million to conduct sex change surgeries in Guatemala through a trans led organization’ and ‘$22 million to increase tourism in Tunisia and Egypt.’

Democrats argue that USAID’s spending is critical to forward U.S. objectives abroad, and have recently noted that Musk and Trump’s handling of the agency has provoked fears of Ebola spreading due USAID funding for prevention programs being halted. 

This week the Supreme Court ruled that $2 billion in USAID funding that Trump froze would have to be thawed and delivered. 

Last week, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected pleas that came in a lawsuit from employees to keep a temporarily block on the government’s plan. 

The agency also said it was cutting the U.S.-based workforce by about 2,000 employees.

‘As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,’ according to the notices sent to USAID workers.

The move escalates a monthlong assault on the agency by Trump and ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk that has closed its headquarters in Washington and shut down thousands of U.S. aid and development programs worldwide following an effort to freeze foreign assistance

The purge escalates a monthlong assault on the agency by Trump and ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk that has closed its headquarters in Washington and shut down thousands of U.S. aid and development programs worldwide following an effort to freeze foreign assistance. 

Trump and chief cost-cutter Musk contend the aid and development work is wasteful and furthers a liberal agenda.

Citing a big concern for workers stationed overseas who have reported being cut off from government communications, the notices say that ‘USAID is committed to keeping its overseas personnel safe.’ 

‘Until they return home, personnel will retain access to Agency systems and to diplomatic and other resources.’

The administration said employees put on leave overseas are expected to receive ‘voluntary Agency-funded return travel’ and other benefits.

Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, said he had been ‘very concerned’ about workers in high-risk areas left overseas without access to emergency communications. 

But he said he has since been reassured by the administration that workers would still have access to two-way radios that allow 24-7 communications in emergencies, as well as a phone app with a ‘panic button.’

The judge said the government´s statements persuaded him ‘that the risk posed to USAID employees who are placed on administrative leave while stationed abroad – if there is any – is far more minimal than it initially appeared.’

The notices of firings and leaves come on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving no-name form letters of termination over the weekend, according to copies that AP viewed.

The blanket nature of the notification letters to USAID contractors, excluding the names or positions of those receiving it, could make it difficult for the dismissed workers to get unemployment benefits, workers noted.

A different judge in a second lawsuit tied to the dismantling of USAID has temporarily blocked the freeze on foreign assistance and said this past week that the administration had kept withholding the aid despite his court order and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide.

USAID workers overseas will have the option to return to the US and their travels would be funded by the agency. However, they can also choose to stay on paid leave at their foreign posts and will still have access to vital resources.

Much controversy has sparked from Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as he continues to bulldoze through several government agencies in an attempt to uncover corrupt spending. 

Several lawsuits have sparked since January 20 about Musk’s cost-cutting slashes, but DOGE has managed to prevail in some cases. 

A federal judge denied liberals’ last ditch attempt to stop ‘First Buddy’ from accessing government data in a huge victory for DOGE.

The lawsuit against DOGE was filed by 14 states’ attorneys general in a coordinated effort to strip Musk of his power as his department gained access to swaths of sensitive data at multiple federal agencies.