President Trump’s administration has prioritized significant budget cuts for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Under Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is scrutinizing the agency, prompting reactions from both allies and adversaries.
In an exclusive interview with Digital at the United Nations, Péter Szijjártó expressed strong disapproval of USAID. While denying any intention to interfere in US domestic affairs, Szijjártó criticized the agency’s actions under former President Biden.
“The previous administration found it unacceptable that we refused to compromise our national stances. We were unwilling to relinquish our national interests,” Szijjártó stated. “And we were determined to maintain our non-liberal, patriotic, conservative approach.”
Szijjártó also accused the Biden administration of using USAID to “destabilize other countries” and fund “culturally inappropriate and foreign programs.”
“Regarding the 90-day payment review period, we are quite pleased,” Szijjártó added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a long-time Trump ally, also criticized USAID following reports of agency funding for Politico.
Prime Minister Orbán further tweeted, “For years, we endured the ultra-progressive, self-proclaimed human rights champions of the mainstream media demonizing patriotic political forces. This was because they were paid by USAID and the previous, left-wing US administration. I concur with President [Trump]: this is too significant and inappropriate to conceal.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed during Wednesday’s press briefing that “over $8 million in taxpayer funds” went to Politico, stating that DOGE is “working to cancel those payments.” However, the publication denied ever receiving “government program funding.”
Musk, overseeing Trump’s cost-cutting initiatives through DOGE, labeled the agency a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
On Monday, Trump’s White House released examples of “wasteful spending” at USAID. This included $6 million for tourism in Egypt, $1.5 million for DEI programs in Serbian workplaces, $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia, and other projects.
The White House also accused the agency of spending “hundreds of millions of dollars” on “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and fertilizer supporting unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” claiming this “benefited the Taliban.”
The White House concluded its list by noting that these were just a few examples from a larger set of projects.
“Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW,” the White House declared.