USAID’s apparent scorched earth exit is raising questions about the possibility of future accountability.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) began burning classified and personnel documents on Tuesday.
Prepping for closure, acting USAID executive Erica Carr issued a day of burning, telling staff in an email to, “Shred as many documents as they can, reserving burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
A cease and desist request filed by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) against Donald Trump on March 11 confirmed the order.
Even though President Trump’s legal team said they were investigating the matter, AFSA directly laid blame on Trump, accusing him of “destroying evidence” related to lawsuits aimed at keeping USAID money flowing.
AFSA further alleged that Trump issued the “short-fused directive.”
In its filing, AFSA said, their demand “couldn’t wait.”
“The destruction needed to be halted.”
Suggesting USAID’s beneficiaries were the victims of a heinous plot, AFSA implied that Trump had ordered a cover-up.
By burning documents that could verify USAID’s innocence, Trump was, they argued, “making it impossible to vindicate the rights” of people affected by Trump’s shutting down of USAID.
Still adamant Trump ordered the shredding and burning, AFSA’s reach for a restraining order (RSO), stated, they would “suffer irreparable injury if the RSO was not granted.”
The documents being disposed of contain “information critical” to USAID’s future resurrection should a judge ruling in ongoing cases call for it.
“If USAID lacks records containing contact information for terminated employees, it will be severely constrained in its ability to rehire them.”
Such destruction, AFSA claimed, could make it almost impossible to rebuild USAID.
Wanting to weigh up the claims, Judge Carl Nichols said he was waiting for both parties to respond before making his decision.
Countering AFSA’s hysterics, Blaze News team The Mandate suggested that USAID had gone rogue.
“This isn’t how things are done. What are they trying to cover up?”
As NBC remarked, through legal advisor Harold Koh, this kind of action is “typically taken when an embassy is under attack.”
The USAID directive follows Judge Carl Nichols refusing a late February request to halt the dismantling of USAID.
Notably, executive director for Freedom Online, Mike Benz, confirmed on X that acting USAID executive secretary, Erica Carr, was appointed by Joe Biden.
Carr also has possible links to Barack Obama.
This suspected Obama connection has sparked speculation that USAID’s exiting staffers may be playing defence for both former Presidents.
Mike Benz said although he had received comments from “good people at USAID, who told him this document destruction was normal,” he still had questions about timing.
USAID is plagued by controversy over what appears to be widespread fraud using American tax-payer dollars.
83% of USAID programs have been canceled by Trump’s government efficiency review.
17% of USAID programs are now the jurisdiction of the U.S State Department
While 1,000 contracts live on, Marco Rubio explained on X, others were ditched.
This is because 5,200 USAID hand-outs “did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”
As for who’s responsible for what or whether USAID went rogue, we’ll have to see how both Judge Nichols and the Trump legal team respond.
What is clear is that AFSA’s submission acknowledges Trump’s team saw a need to investigate Carr’s directive.
This strongly suggests that the Trump administration was not privy to nor were they the source of USAID’s internal directive effectively telling staff to burn and run.
