The inspector general tasked with monitoring spending habits at the controversial U.S. Agency for International Development is now out of a job.
On Tuesday evening, Trent Morse, deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, emailed USAID Inspector General Paul Martin to let him know that he had been “terminated, effective immediately.”
Martin admitted in his report that his office had ‘offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.’
Though Morse did not provide a reason for Martin’s termination, it is likely tied to the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency appear to have uncovered at the agency. According to the DOGE, USAID — dedicated to distributing American tax dollars to foreign countries — spent billions on leftist, anti-American pet projects ranging from “trans-led” and “gender-affirming” organizations in Guatemala to a Hamas-linked charity in Gaza to DEI scholarships in Burma, as Blaze News previously reported.
No one else from Martin’s office was terminated, though staff no longer have access to the building, CBS News reported. The USAID website has likewise gone dark, and many employees have been sacked. The apparent corruption runs so deep that Musk referred to the agency as a “criminal organization.”
Inspectors general are considered independent watchdogs who oversee various federal agencies to curtail waste, fraud, and abuse. Trump had already fired at least 17 IGs in his first few weeks in office, but Martin was not among them — until now.
After learning of his termination, Martin messaged colleagues to break the news:
It has been a true honor and pleasure to walk alongside my OIG colleagues around the world as we sought to provide independent and aggressive oversight of USAID programs and personnel. And while I had hoped to walk with all of you a bit longer on this journey, that will not be possible.
Martin’s termination likely did not come as a surprise after he issued a report on Monday warning the Trump administration that a spending freeze and staffing reductions at USAID would “degrade” the agency’s ability to conduct normal operations.
For instance, a counterterrorism unit would be unable to “conduct any partner vetting,” perhaps resulting in the agency “inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations,” Martin’s report claimed.
The report also said that funding freezes would prevent the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance from processing and responding to “allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or diversion of humanitarian aid.” It is unclear how the BHA had been addressing such allegations, considering the apparent proliferation of wasteful spending at USAID.
In fact, Martin admitted in his report that his office had “identified significant challenges and offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse” and that “long-standing concerns about existing USAID oversight mechanisms persist.” Yet he still argued that spending freezes and staffing cuts were not the answer.
According to an archived version of his USAID bio, Martin has been a career deep-stater. He joined the U.S. Sentencing Commission when it was first formed in 1985, then transferred 13 years later to the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Justice.
Martin also spent 14 years as IG of NASA before President Joe Biden nominated him to be IG of USAID in December 2023. He had also been serving as vice chair of the COVID-related Pandemic Response Accountability Committee since it was formed in April 2020.
The White House apparently did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Martin’s ouster.
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Donald trump, Usaid, Corruption, Waste, Fraud, And abuse, Paul martin, Deep state, Inspector general, Politics