Trump's USAID Cuts Help China and Russia, Former Officials Argue in Court [View all]

Source: Newsweek

Published Mar 17, 2025 at 4:12 PM EDT | Updated Mar 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM EDT


President Donald Trump's decision to put a halt to most foreign-aid funding has caused "irreparable" damage to America's standing abroad and strengthened adversaries including China and Russia, former senior Republican and Democratic officials wrote in a new court filing.

The Trump administration has destroyed the United States' "credibility as a reliable partner" to allies around the world by dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the former top diplomats, defense and national security officials from past Republican and Democratic administrations said in a blistering amicus brief filed Monday in federal court.

Foreign aid funding "is the right thing to do, but it's also in our interest," Michael Hayden, aa former CIA director under George W. Bush and one of the officials who signed the brief, told Newsweek.

Other signatories include Eric Edelman, a former senior Defense Department official under Bush, Richard Greene, the director of U.S. Foreign Assistance under Bush, and the Clinton-era Defense Secretary William Perry.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/usaid-trump-court-chuck-hagel-interview-2046127