Just In- Donald Trump sacks the Inspector General of USAID, Paul Martin
President Donald Trump sacks the inspector general of USAID, Paul Martin. Paul Martin was informed via an email from the deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel on Tuesday evening that he has been sacked, effective immediately.
This happened a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency.
A spokesperson for the USAID Office of Inspector General confirmed Martin’s termination and said no reason was given for his sack.
The administration is required under the law to provide 30 days’ notice to Congress before firing an inspector general and provide case-specific reasons for getting rid of watchdogs.
Martin had served as inspector general since December 2023. While President Donald Trump fired inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies during his first week in office, the USAID watchdog had remained in place.
An IG conducts investigations and audits into any potential malfeasance, fr@ud, waste, or abu$e by a government agency or its personnel, and issues reports and recommendations on its findings.
An inspector general’s office is intended to operate independently.
Staff from the USAID Office of the Inspector General have also been informed they no longer have access to their physical office space.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle USAID in recent weeks, attempting to put thousands of direct-hire USAID employees on leave and removing scores of contractors who work for the agency.
Last Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked those plans and halted the accelerated removal of staffers from countries around the world.
USAID requires that programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen receive “partner vetting,” to ensure that taxpayer funds do not end up supporting groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, or the Houthis.
According to the report, these vetting efforts have come to a halt because of the reduction in staff at USAID.
The workforce in USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) has already been impacted by furloughs or stands to be put on leave.
This staffing reduction has also halted the agency’s ability to respond to reports of potential misuse of humanitarian funding.
