The Trump administration is signaling it may bring criminal referrals against employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or grantee recipients over allegations of misuse of foreign assistance, which would mark an extraordinary next step in the administration’s push to gut the agency.
Peter Marocco, who is serving as acting deputy administrator for USAID, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing Wednesday that he and his staff are looking at making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
It’s unclear if Marocco will follow through on the threat, said one person who was in the room during the briefing, but they saw it as a significant signal, coming up in a meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. MORE