Trump admin pushes out 60 career officials at USAID amid pause on foreign aid programs

The order was sent to members of the senior executive and senior Foreign Service at near the end of the business day on Monday, and was effective immediately, two current USAID officials and three former USAID officials told Politico. The officials said that around 60 officials, nearly every career staffer who holds a top leadership role, have been affected.

Two of the officials said that the entire group of leaders who run the USAID’s bureau for global health. Under administrative leave, those affected will continue to be paid. It is currently unclear how long the administrative leave will last.

Acting USAID Administrator Jason Gray sent an email later on Monday to staff saying that the decision was related to staff attempts to obstruct directives from Trump.

The email stated, "We have identified several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the president’s executive orders and the mandate from the American people. As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions." Gray did not elaborate on the actions taken or the names or number of employees affected.

On Friday, the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo to all diplomatic and consular staffers to have "stop-work orders" regarding nearly all "existing foreign assistance awards." This pause was issued so Rubio could conduct a review of existing foreign aid.