Not that we needed it, but more evidence surfaced on X today that explains why Democrats are so furious about the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its probe into USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The outfit is little more than a money pot for far-left nongovernmental organizations, and, it turns out, top Democrats with more than a little influence.
The latest: Stephanie Psaki, the sister of MSNBC talker Jen Psaki — spokesman for former President Joe Biden before Karine Jean-Pierre — worked at a nongovernmental organization called the Population Council.
That group has collected almost $450 million from U.S. taxpayers since 2008, the vast majority of it, almost $360 million, from USAID.
Big Bucks for Nothing
The revelation comes from Natalie Winters, who co-hosts Steve Bannon’s War Room.
“MSNBC Host Jen Psaki’s sister worked for nearly a decade at Population Council International, a recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars from USAID,” she wrote:
The group even lists USAID as one of its official partners.
Why does Jen never disclose this!?
And wouldn’t you know, Stephanie Psaki toiled in the Biden White House, just like her sister. She was “coordinator for global health security,” a position in which she undoubtedly altered “global health security,” whatever that is, for the better.
Translation: She collected a big salary from the taxpayers, even if 99.99 percent of Americans never knew the White House even had a “coordinator for global health security.”
Anyway, the meat of the story followed. Winters revealed that the group has received some $430 million since 2008.
In fact, a closer look at the data show that the Population Council hornswoggled the taxpayers out of $440.4 million.
Winters’ data didn’t include $10.9 million in grants from 2023 and 2024: $7.1 million and $3.8 million.
About 81 percent of that money, $358.32 million, came from USAID.
Jen Psaki ridiculed Winters.
“You caught us @nataliegwinters!” the far-left activist wrote:
My sister who has a PhD in public health and decades of experience trying to help address global health disparities did indeed work for an organization that was focused on doing exactly that. A goal (in addition to addressing corruption and helping feed and treat people around the world USAID shares) Such a burn exposing us for trying to help people. Congrats!
Maybe, but Madame Psaki didn’t explain two things. One, it’s the taxpayers who are “helping people,” not the Psaki sisters. Any other two people could do their jobs. But the taxpayers’ contribution is what matters. The two far-left Democrats seem amazingly adept at finding themselves as salaried employees in organizations that live on hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Other Wasteful Spending
So, yes, Winters did catch them. And in any event, all that loot doesn’t appear to have done much good, as with most of the taxpayer money USAID and other government agencies spend, as DOGE has shown.
Instead USAID has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on far-left pet projects and sending money to top news organizations.
As for the ridiculous spending, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee revealed the following that flowed from the coffers of USAID:
• $15 million for condoms to the Taliban;
• $3,315,446 for “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean”;
• $2.5 million to build electric vehicle charging stations in Vietnam’s largest cities;
• $1.5 million to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ individuals in Serbia; and,
• $425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate- and gender-friendly.
Plus, here are some examples of how the State Department spent tax money:
• $14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border;
• $3.2 million to help Tunisian migrants readjust to life in Tunisia after deportation;
• $1 million to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa;
• $446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal; etc.
There’s more, but you get the idea.
Worst still, however, is the arbitrary and capricious spending of tax money on the media.
The New York Times has pocketed some $50 million from taxpayers throughout the years, while far-left Politico has collected about $34 million.
The Associated Press, another far-left, supposedly neutral news outfit, stuck its hand in the taxpayers’ pockets to the tune of $37.5 million.
A so-called journalism outfit that was linked to the first impeachment of President Trump has received $11.7 million.
But the biggest freeloader among journalism giants is Reuters News & Media. Its take: $1.2 billion since 2008.
No wonder USAID threatened to sue U.S. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa for asking to see its finances. And no wonder it tried to deny DOGErs permission to see its finances.
While Democrats and far-left USAID employees complained that DOGErs jeopardized USAID’s work, they more likely worried that their spending would be exposed.
“USAID is a criminal organization,” DOGE chieftain Elon Musk wrote on X. “Time for it to die.”
