Leaked Whistleblower Memo Shows the Trump Administration Illegally Terminated USAID Foreign Assistance Awards
Public Citizen represents grantees challenging mass termination of awards
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A memo prepared by a whistleblower within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) offers the closest look yet into the Trump Administration’s unlawful termination of nearly all USAID foreign assistance funding.
That document, titled “General Malfeasance by USAID and its Office of Acquisition and Assistance; and Non-Compliance with Laws, Court Orders, and USAID Regulations and Policies since January 24, 2025,” details the actions of the Trump Administration in terminating foreign assistance awards, as well as the extensive efforts of USAID employees to raise concerns within the agency about the Administration’s unlawful actions.
The whistleblower also documents that the Administration’s actions have “placed the U.S. Government, its implementing partners, and the integrity of the [government’s] acquisition system at serious risk.”
In February, Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a lawsuit challenging the illegal and unconscionable freeze on U.S. foreign assistance. That suit, brought on behalf of Plaintiffs AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Journalism Development Network, and the Center for Victims of Torture, challenges the mass termination of foreign assistance awards as unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to law.
“The Trump Administration has consistently—preposterously—claimed that its decision to terminate thousands of U.S. foreign assistance awards was legal because those terminations were based on an ‘individualized’ review,” said Lauren Bateman, attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group. “This internal agency document corroborates that there was no such individualized review. It also shows that the Administration has ignored both court orders and numerous communications from officials within USAID raising concerns about the illegality of the Administration’s actions.”
Bateman is available to provide a detailed walk through of the extensive material linked in the whistleblower memo, to explain how the information in the memo relates to the ongoing USAID litigation and calls into question claims made by the Administration.