Free Rein to Do Who Knows What

NEW: In a sworn declaration to the court, Pete Marocco, who oversees USAID for the president, detailed instances of insubordination and defiance related to the president's order to review all foreign aid and pause spending.

Marocco: "I made numerous requests for information…

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) February 11, 2025

… about USAID's operations, programs, and compliance with the president's directives. I have consistently found USAID's senior staff were unwilling or unable to provide basic compliance and oversight information.

For example, senior professionals in the finance, legal, and human capital groups were not able to identify who, when, and why dozens of specific multi-million dollar payments were approved or disbursed in the days following the President's directives to pause most USAID disbursements and programs.

This lack of clear or timely information sharing caused grave concern about whether USAID was faithfully following the President's and Secretary's (Rubio) directives. Those concerns were amplified when...agency leadership became aware that a group of USAID employees were not complying with the President's Executive Order and continued to permit new funding obligations paused by those directives."

By Feb 1, the administration had placed 115 USAID officials on paid leave for "noncompliance" and "other acts of insubordination." The plan was for all but roughly 600 of the 4,765 full time USAID employees to be placed on leave as Marocco and his team analyzed foreign projects. That was thwarted by Judge Nichols' TRO. (Marocco also took a swipe at Nichols' unsubstantiated claim that USAID employees "in Syria" faced imminent danger. "To the best of my knowledge, none of these employees were located in high-risk countries, such as Syria." Perhaps Nichols would have learned that had he allowed the DOJ to respond to the lawsuit before issuing his TRO.)

Marocco also identified one USAID employee who defied the directive related to assistance funding for Gaza. ""One USAID employee who broke that chain of command, did not communicate with her immediate USAID supervisor, and attempted to obligate or authorize the expenditure of nearly half a billion dollars in assistance in a manner that was inconsistent with the president's priorities."

As we learn more, Judge Nichols' hasty TRO makes even less sense. He has now placed defiant USAID employees back on the job with no oversight as they contradict direct orders by both the president and Secretary Rubio.

But Nichols claims that the employees are the ones being harmed? Truly shameful stuff. Even if he refuses to enter a preliminary injunction or enters a limited one, Nichols has allowed rogue USAID employees free rein for at least a week to do who knows what.