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Trump is slashing USAID programs and staff. Are the claims about waste and corruption true?

08:42

Here & Now Newsroom

February 19, 2025

The flag of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, flies in front of the USAID office in Washington, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Claims about waste, corruption and incompetence at the USAID agency — coming from Elon Musk, President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others — have been coming fast and furious as the agency and its programs are being slashed and dismantled.

But fact-checking by multiple news outlets shows that many of those claims are either misleading, only partially accurate, or completely false. In some cases, the programs pinpointed were not funded by USAID. In others, the goals of the programs have been misrepresented.

Factcheck.org reporter Saranac Spencer joins Here & Now to tick through some of the claims.

This segment aired on February 19, 2025.

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