[FoxNews] DOGE's financial audit of USAID prompted Democrat cries that thousands would die without its funding
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency essentially dismantled by DOGE amid complaints from Democrats that cutting waste would harm impoverished countries, is at the center of a massive bribery scandal.
A federal contracting officer and three businessmen have pleaded guilty in a scheme involving bribes like cash, NBA tickets, and a country club wedding in a scandal the Department of Justice (DOJ) said was part of a $550 million scam, Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent Mike Emanuel reported Friday.
Roderick Watson, 57, worked as a USAID contracting officer, according to a DOJ press release, and pleaded guilty to "bribery of a public official."
According to the DOJ, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, with contractors Walter Barnes, owner of Vistant, and Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, funneling payoffs through subcontractor Paul Young to hide their tracks.
"During the scheme, Britt and Barnes paid bribes to Watson that were often concealed by passing them through Young, who was the president of another subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant," the press release explained.
"Britt and Barnes also regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives. The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices. Watson is alleged to have received bribes valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme."
Vistant was awarded in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract worth up to $800 million with one of the focuses of that contract being to address "a variety of issues affecting the root causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States," an issue that President Joe Biden tasked then-Vice President Kamala Harris with during his presidency.
Several days later, that contract was canceled after USAID published a notice that said Vistant was excluded from government contracting due to "evidence of conduct of a lack of business honesty or integrity."
The joint venture then successfully sued the government over being put on that exclusion list and was re-awarded the contract and given a $10,000 payment in August 2024.
"Corruption in government programs will not be tolerated. Watson abused his position of trust for personal gain while federal contractors engaged in a pay-to-play scheme," Acting Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Sean Bottary of the USAID Office of Inspector General (USAID-OIG) said in the press release.
During DOGE's sweep, it was revealed that U.S. dollars were ending up in the hands of terror-linked groups, such as funds reportedly providing "full funding" for al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki to attend college in Colorado.
"USAID-OIG is firmly committed to rooting out fraud and corruption within U.S. foreign assistance programs. Today’s announcement underscores our unwavering focus on exposing criminal activity, including bribery schemes by those entrusted to faithfully award government contracts. We appreciate our longstanding partnership with the Department of Justice in holding accountable those who defraud American taxpayers."
USAID was one of the public faces and most drastic examples of DOGE's efforts to cut waste, fraud, and abuse in government, and the effort resulted in the agency's programs being cut by 83%, while the programs deemed vital were moved to the State Department.
USAID's website went dark, and employees were barred from entering its headquarters on Feb. 3, while others had their work put on hold. The Trump administration then announced that all USAID direct-hire personnel would be put on administrative leave.
The agency came under fire for many funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities" and a $70,000 program for a "DEI musical" in Ireland.
During DOGE's sweep, it was revealed that U.S. dollars were ending up in the hands of terror-linked groups, such as funds reportedly providing "full funding" for al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki to attend college in Colorado, Fox News Digital previously reported.
How very interesting. I seem to recall reading something about him getting scholarships, but I do not ecall knowing who had awarded him the funds.
As DOGE was dismantling USAID, many Democrats and media outlets blasted the cuts, claiming they would harm impoverished recipients of aid across the globe and some, including U2 frontman Bono, who said the cuts would lead to over 300,000 deaths.
Several House and Senate Democrats protested outside of USAID's headquarters in early February, expressing outrage over the layoffs and cuts, The Hill reported.
"Anybody who cares about good and effective government should be concerned about the waste, fraud, and abuse in government agencies, including USAID," Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in the DOJ's press release.
[THECONSERVATIVETREEHOUSE] While it is a strong win, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to fully stay the lower court order was not unexpected. The temporary restraining order issued by District Judge Charles Breyer was obviously political and legally weak, very weak.
The Ninth CCA simply affirmed that a violent mostly peaceful crisis was afoot in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,; federal officials and buildings were under attack; the local police and state government did nothing to stop it; so President Trump took legally authorized action to intervene, and took control of the national guard.
The decision is not complicated. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded President Trump lawfully exercised his authority in federalizing control of the guard. The ruling affirmed the Trump administration presented enough evidence to show it had a rationale for doing so, citing violent mostly peaceful acts by protesters.
''The undisputed facts demonstrate that before the deployment of the National Guard, protesters 'pinned down' several federal officers and threw 'concrete chunks, bottles of liquid, and other objects' at the officers. Protesters also damaged federal buildings and caused the closure of at least one federal building. And a federal van was attacked by protesters who smashed in the van's windows,'' the court wrote. ''The federal government's interest in preventing incidents like these is significant.''
The court also found that even if the federal government failed to notify the governor of California before federalizing the National Guard as required by law, Newsom had no power to veto the president's order. A common sense straightforward interpretation of the law.
[WND] Former President Barack Obama said at a forum Tuesday that the U.S. must address what he called misinformation and said government must regulate social media platforms to ensure facts are separated from opinions.
During an appearance on The Connecticut Forum's "An Evening with President Barack Obama," the former president said he worries about the current state of discourse and spoke of a growing disregard for facts. He said that this undermines trust in society.
"I've said this before, but I always repeat it. You and I can have an opinion about this little side table. You know, you might not like the design. You might not like the color or how it's finished, but we can have that discussion. If I say to you this is a lawnmower, you'll think I'm crazy," Obama said. "And if I really believe it, I'll think you're crazy. And we're now in a situation in which we are having these basic factual arguments. And that further undermines trust."
Obama then spoke of Vladimir Putin.
"Vladimir Putin and the KGB had a saying that was then adopted proudly by Steve Bannon, which was if you want propaganda to be effective [then] you don't have to convince people that what you are saying is true. You just have to flood the zone with so much poop. They use a different word. But you have to flood the zone with so much untruth, constantly, that at some point people don't believe anything," Obama added.
"So it doesn't matter if a candidate running for office just is constantly, just hypothetically, saying untrue things, or if an elected president claims that he won when he lost and that the system was rigged, but then when he wins, then it isn't rigged, because he won. It doesn't matter if everybody believes it. It just matters if everybody starts kind of throwing up their hands and saying 'Well, I guess it doesn't matter.'"
#4
You just have to flood the zone with so much poop. They use a different word. But you have to flood the zone with so much untruth, constantly, that at some point people don't believe anything," Obama added.
Says Mr. 25 # of shit in a 5 # bag
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/21/2025 10:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
This Mincing butthead can't even keep his wife from gnashing her donkey chompers in public, but wants to muzzle the citizenry. A bag of Richards for thee.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/21/2025 10:02 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WND] Former President Barack Obama said at a forum Tuesday that the U.S. must address what he called misinformation and said government must regulate social media platforms to ensure facts are separated from opinions.
