Traumatized USAID worker who survived DOGE bloodbath describes horror of watching everyone get fired
JOE HUTCHISON and EMILY GOODIN | 16:46 EST, 7 February 2025 | Updated: 17:56 EST, 7 February 2025A USAID worker who managed to survive widespread cuts by DOGE has described the horror watching their coworkers being fired.
President Trump has gone scorched-earth against the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) this week, claiming it is 'corrupt'.
Amidst huge amounts of layoffs at the agency, one staff member described to NPR how during a virtual staff meeting on Monday people started leaving one by one as their access was cut off.
The staffer said: 'It was like from a horror film', after the administration ordered at least 8,000 staffers and contractors onto permanent leave or furlough.
"There is no bottom to this stupidity," a separate USAID staffer told the public broadcaster. Another added that government "Might as well shut it all down. 290 people won't be able to do anything."
The Trump administration had originally planned to keep 297 staff but that number has now risen to 611 according to a notice issued late on Thursday night.
On Friday, one worker could be seen crying as crews used duct tape to block out the agency name on a sign outside of its headquarters, as they also tore down large lettering over the entranceway.
Trump wrote earlier on his Truth Social: 'USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable. The corruption is at levels rarely seen before close it down!' . . .
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14373733/usaid-worker-doge-bloodbath-fired.html