USAID Holding Fire Sale of Gear, Supplies for 5,000 Projects Trump Axed

The Trump administration is selling, redistributing, or losing track of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and supplies from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which it shuttered and folded into the State Department this year, Josh Marcus reported for The Independent.

Others tied to the defunct agency have scrambled to donate supplies to NGOs and governments, even without official authorization. (Photo: USAID U.S. Agency for International Development Flickr) 

Former USAID staffers and contractors told The Atlantic that the U.S. has been auctioning off property for pennies on the dollar and misplacing once tightly monitored assets, raising security concerns.

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala sold off iPads, ring lights, megaphones, and defibrillators, while a warehouse in Nigeria offloaded computer supplies and used generators.

Others tied to the defunct agency have scrambled to donate supplies to NGOs and governments, even without official authorization.

“It is very hard for us to see nutritional support for children and say, ‘Okay, we’re not going to use this because we are waiting for the U.S. government to tell us what to do with it,’” said Sherine Ibrahim, director of the International Rescue Committee in Afghanistan.

Some supplies have languished or been destroyed. In July, Congress passed a package clawing back $8.3 billion in foreign aid funds.

Earlier this year, a USAID inspector was reportedly fired after revealing $500 million in food aid was about to spoil amid a funding freeze that began shortly after Trump took office.