menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

What Is the Trump Administration Doing With Foreign Aid Money?

11 0
07.08.2026
In a 2025 meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump held up a printed article from American Thinker while accusing South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa of state-sanctioned violence against white farmers in South Africa. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Since he returned to office, President Donald Trump’s administration has upended foreign aid. It’s labeled well-established, long-running programs as “not aligned with American interests” and slashed their budgets.

Still, the billions of taxpayer dollars Congress has allocated for foreign aid programs must be spent; lawmakers have insisted the government continue to fund humanitarian aid, global health and pro-democracy causes around the world. With most of the old programs now gone, however, we wanted to know: What is the Trump administration doing with that money now?

Recently, we published our investigation that found one answer to that question in a little-known bureau of the State Department that has dramatically transformed under Trump. For decades, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, known as DRL, has supported human rights in some of the most oppressive countries in the world. Now, our reporting found, it’s planning to direct funds to controversial groups supporting right-wing causes in Europe and elsewhere.

Our full story lays out some of the groups the government has considered funding, which include a British free-speech organization that has fought against bans on “gay conversion therapy” and a British American think tank created this year to focus on “existential threats to Britain, to America, and to our shared Judeo-Christian civilisation.” (Administration officials dropped that grant after significant pushback from Congress.)

One proposed grant particularly caught our attention: Trump administration officials suggested........

© ProPublica