The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was set up in 1961 to provide American money for aid overseas.

But in recent years it has used tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars for some shocking expenditures. 

The agency has now been shuttered because Donald Trump and Elon Musk have found that the aid being doled out often does not accomplish core U.S. missions, like expanding education and improving infrastructure.  

‘You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair,’ Musk said of USAID on Monday. ‘We’re shutting it down.’

Now, Musk and officials at his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are readying to dissolve the agency and roll it into the State Department, an idea the Tesla CEO says Trump is on board with. 

Just after taking office, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio implemented a 90-day freeze on most foreign aid to give the new administration time to review what USAID’s $30 billion budget for 2025 is being used on.

Rubio announced Monday he is now the acting director of USAID. 

Some Republicans have been sounding the alarm on USAID for weeks, saying the agency is more focused on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) than diplomacy.

And some USAID receipts show it. Here, DailyMail.com breaks down some of the most shocking ways the agency has spent U.S. taxpayer money. 

HIV research about transgenders

The Wits Health Consortium, a South African research facility that studies the transmission of HIV among sex workers and transgender people, has received $30 million from USAID since 2018, federal data shows. 

The South African research firm was awarded $38 million dollars in total, but the final $8 million which has yet to be allocated may be slashed after to Trump’s foreign aid review. 

‘HIV epidemic control in South Africa pivots on the success of providing appropriate services for key populations, including sex workers (SWS), their clients, and transgender (TG) people,’ the award states. 

According to the federal receipts, the award was made to develop ‘a model of provision of accessible clinical interventions for [sex workers].’ 

Millions to COVID lab in China

The White Coat Waste Project, an anti-animal experimentation group, also uncovered that USAID funded $38 million worth of grants that ended up going to the same lab where COVID-19 is believed to have originated from, the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Serbian LGBTQ group 

Another big ticket item that no longer will receive U.S. funding is a pro-LGBTQ organization in Serbia called ‘Grupa Izadji,’ which in English translates to ‘Group Come Out.’ 

This NGO received $1.5 million from Biden’s administration to ‘advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, by promoting economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia.’ 

According to the grant, the Serbian group ‘will foster an environment that increases employment potential for LGBTQI+ persons, expands opportunities for LGBTQI+ entrepreneurs, and reduces workplace discrimination.’

However, Trump’s foreign aid freeze has cut off money from flowing to ‘Grupa Izadji,’ which was expected to be funded through the end of 2025. 

Electric vehicles in Vietnam 

Another costly foreign aid fund package approved under Joe Biden’s administration awarded $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam. 

Since the huge investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars there has been only one battery station built, avoiding a total of 260 gallons of gas, according to the USAID website. 

An average semi-truck holds roughly, by comparison, about 130 gallons of gas.

Other eye-popping USAID initiatives include funding for a documentary highlighting the agency’s efforts propping up the first transgender health care clinic in India. 

Trans care clinics 

The agency also helped open TransCare Clinic, an operation established to ‘address ongoing gaps in transgender health care across Vietnam,’ according to a September 2024 USAID press release. 

LGBTQ initiatives globally 

USAID established in 2023 a LGBTQI+ policy to help advance non-heterosexual objectives around the globe. 

The policy ‘advances USAID’s commitment to supporting protection, inclusion, and human rights for all so that LGBTQI+ individuals are able to live with dignity and free from all forms of violence, discrimination, stigma, and criminalization,’ a memo announcing the program declared. 

Beyond USAID, other taxpayer-funded initiatives have also caught the eyes of GOP lawmakers eager to cut necessary programs or undeserving recipients from federal aid programs.  

Operas in Colombia 

For example, the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs approved $25,000 for an opera in Colombia in order to increase ‘transgender representation’ in the arts. In addition to the government funding the group received $22,000 in private funding as well. 

‘So, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia. That was a real one,’ House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast revealed to DailyMail.com last week.

Peruvian trans comic books 

The Peruvian trans comic book program received $32,000 under former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to federal documents.

Mast said: ‘Let’s see, there was a transgender comic book, we’re trying to get our hands on the actual comic book, in Peru. And I heard it’s reasonably risqué.’ 

Efforts to ‘expand atheism’ abroad 

Mast has also descrbied how the U.S. has spent $500,000 to expand atheism in Nepal.