Trump fires USAID inspector general one day after blistering report (original) (raw)

The White House fired the independent inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday evening, a day after his office issued a blistering report assessing the impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly curtail the agency’s mission.

Paul K. Martin, appointed by President Joe Biden in December 2023, was informed of his dismissal through a two-sentence email from Trent Morse, deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, according to a copy of the note viewed by The Washington Post. Martin oversaw a staff of 275 with a dozen offices located abroad.

“On behalf of President Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” Morse wrote.

Three people with knowledge of the event confirmed Martin was fired. The move follows Trump’s Jan. 24 decision to fire 17 inspectors general in a purge that appeared to violate a law requiring the administration to alert Congress 30 days before taking such an action.

“Look what happens when you write a report critical of this administration: They fire you the next day,” said Michael Missal, former inspector general at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who was among those fired by Trump last month. “This chills independent oversight, and that’s exactly what we need right now.”

Martin, 65, declined to comment. He has served four decades in the federal government, including stints as a staffer at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as counsel at the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office and as the NASA inspector general for 14 years, before spending the past 14 months at USAID.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The termination of Martin follows his office’s publication of a widely read report warning that more than $489 million in food assistance was at risk of spoilage or potential diversion after the Trump administration implemented its aid freeze and stop-work order.

While most USAID staffers have been placed on paid leave by the administration, the inspector general’s staff continued working, said people familiar with the matter.

Martin’s office, in its Monday report, concluded that even though Trump’s pause in foreign assistance provided a waiver for emergency food assistance, shipments of in-kind assistance were delayed around the world because USAID-funded implementers faced conflicting instructions, and staffers were unable to provide clear guidance because of communication restrictions.

“The IG’s office knew there was a risk in publishing this report, but USAID OIG has always been fiercely committed to fact-based independent oversight, no matter how inconvenient it was to any particular administration, Biden or Trump,” said a person who has worked with Martin’s office, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Former Defense Department inspector general Rob Storch, who was fired by Trump last month, said he worked with Martin on Ukraine-related issues and called his work “exemplary.”

“It is critically important that IGs be empowered to conduct independent oversight, detecting and deterring waste, fraud, abuse and corruption on behalf of the American people,” Storch said.

Martin’s office has several other investigations underway into the impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter much of USAID’s work across the globe, according to a different person familiar with the effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss work that has not been made public. Among them is an examination of the effect of severe staffing reductions on humanitarian aid across Africa and in Gaza, this person said.

Martin’s firing follows a tumultuous few weeks at the agency after the Trump administration moved to place all direct hires at the 10,000-strong workforce on administrative leave. A federal judge halted those plans on Friday, though scores of USAID officials were turned away from their Washington offices on Monday by the security guard in the front office.

Trump’s decision to pause all aid and impose a “stop work” order has also impacted programs around the world — from HIV prevention in Africa to demining in Cambodia and antimalaria campaigns, despite efforts by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to issue exemptions to the restrictions for “lifesaving” aid.

Aid experts worry that the termination of Martin and the closure of his team’s work facilities will mean more crises currently facing USAID will go unreported.

“Most of the dynamics described in the IG report are happening to every other part of USAID,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official and the current president of Refugees International. “When they warned about the spoilage of food, you could also apply that to the risk of spoilage of medical items, and when they noted the lack of oversight of U.S.-purchased aid due to the withdrawal of officials on the ground, that applies across the board.”

Konyndyk hailed Martin’s decision to publish the report as “brave,” given the termination of other inspectors general.