A federal decide on Thursday ordered Trump administration officers to conform together with his earlier order to quickly elevate a freeze on almost all overseas help, quickly restoring it to applications worldwide.
In his order, Decide Amir H. Ali, a Biden appointee, stated Trump administration officers had used his Feb. 13 order to quickly elevate the freeze on overseas help to as a substitute “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding.
Regardless of the decide’s order on the contrary, USAID Deputy Secretary Pete Marocco, a Trump appointee, and different prime officers had “continued their blanket suspension of funds,” Ali stated.
Nonetheless, the Washington, D.C. district courtroom decide declined a request by nonprofit teams doing enterprise with the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth to seek out Trump administration officers in contempt of his order.
TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS
Flowers and an indication are positioned exterior the headquarters of the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/Jose Luis Magana)
Ali’s ruling is available in a lawsuit by the nonprofit teams difficult the Trump administration’s month-old cutoff of overseas help via USAID and the State Division, which shut down $60 billion in annual help and growth applications abroad virtually in a single day.
Even after Ali’s order, USAID staffers and contractors say the State Division and USAID nonetheless haven’t restored funds, even on tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} already owed by the federal government.
President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Garden of the White Home, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/Alex Brandon)
Marocco and different administration officers defended the nonpayment in written arguments to the decide this week. They contended that they might lawfully cease or terminate funds underneath hundreds of contracts with out violating the decide’s order.
The Trump administration says it’s reviewing all State Division and USAID overseas help applications on a case-by-case foundation to see which of them meet the Trump administration’s agenda.
TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS
Assist organizations, present and former USAID staffers in interviews and courtroom affidavits, say the funding freeze and deep Trump administration purges of USAID staffers have introduced U.S. overseas help globally to a halt, pressured hundreds of layoffs and is driving authorities companions to monetary collapse.
FILE: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins U.S. President Donald Trump throughout an government order signing within the Oval Workplace on the White Home on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos)
Led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s efforts on the newly shaped Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), the division has been what Musk characterizes as a campaign to chop authorities spending and draw back the federal workforce.
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DOGE to this point claims to have saved some $55 billion by way of cuts to USAID, the Division of Schooling and the Client Monetary Safety Bureau. However lots of DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have introduced authorized challenges.
Fox Information Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Related Press contributed to this report.
