Trump defends foreign aid freeze, calls USAID a ‘left-wing scam’

There will be no tolerance for Social Security fraud,

he declared, reiterating his commitment to overhauling federal agencies and eliminating wasteful spending

We're giving billions and billions of dollars to countries that hate us,

Trump said, justifying his administration’s move to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Elon is doing a great job,

Trump said, praising Musk’s leadership

We've also effectively ended the left-wing scam known as USAID,

he said

You can take the humanitarians out of USAID but you can’t take the humanity out of the humanitarians."

Another smiling staffer’s box had a more upbeat tone, with her message reading

We are abandoning the world,

read one message on a box being hauled out by a grinning staffer as she walked out of USAID's Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs office

In sum, because the Court likely lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims, they have not established a likelihood of success on the merits,

the judge's ruling stated, in part

All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries,

Trump said

We are disappointed in today’s decision and believe the harms faced by USAid workers are real. We remain confident that the courts will find the administration’s efforts to decimate USAid contrary to law,

said Skye Perryman, president of the legal non-profit Democracy Forward, which represents the unions, in a statement

We will move expeditiously for further and permanent relief to stop the devastation,

said Lauren Bateman with Public Citizen Litigation Group

Today’s ruling is a setback but we remain committed to our USAID members and the valuable work they do,

said Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees

Carl J. Nicholsjudge

The government has made a colorable case that the actions challenged in this case are essential to its policy goals,

Nichols wrote

Carl J. Nicholsjudge

Weighing plaintiffs’ assertions on these questions against the government’s is like comparing apples to oranges. Where one side claims that USAID’s operations are essential to human flourishing and the other side claims they are presently at odds with it, it simply is not possible for the Court to conclude, as a matter of law or equity, that the public interest favors or disfavors an injunction,

Nichols wrote

I have a due date that does not allow me to just wait and see what happens,

the USAID staffer wrote