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Senator Rand Paul Exposes USAID's Outrageous Spending: Transgender Monkey Surgeries, Climate Influencers, and Borrowed Billions
Senator Rand Paul discusses his decade-long fight to expose wasteful USAID spending, including millions spent on social media influencers in Ukraine, girl-centric climate change programs in Brazil, and transgender surgeries in Guatemala. With President Trump's administration placing a padlock on USAID and Elon Musk's Doge initiative investigating, the senator reveals how Congress has handed billions in blank checks to fund left-wing projects while borrowing from China. Paul announces upcoming hearings and explains how Republicans can use simple majority votes to rescind this spending, but warns that many Republicans still support these programs and need public pressure to act.
A Decade of Fighting USAID Waste
Senator Rand Paul has been leading the charge against USAID spending for over a decade, consistently arguing that the United States should not borrow money to send it abroad while running deficits at home. Through his annual Festivus report and continuous investigations, Paul has documented outrageous expenditures that seemed to generate little public attention—until now.
The senator explains that USAID spending has reached a tipping point where the American public is finally paying attention. With the Trump administration taking action and Elon Musk's involvement through Doge, the conversation about foreign aid waste has reached critical mass. Paul notes that the administration placing a padlock on USAID facilities has helped expose spending that nobody can defend because of its outrageous nature.
The Shocking Details of USAID Spending
The list of questionable USAID expenditures is extensive and disturbing. Paul reveals that $4.8 million was spent on social media influencers in Ukraine, $3 million on girl-centric climate change programs in Brazil, and $2 million to secure the border in Paraguay. Additional wasteful spending includes:
- $1.5 million for advancing DEI in Serbia
- $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala
- $6 million for tourism in Egypt
- Hundreds of thousands for meals that went to Al-Qaeda affiliated fighters in Syria
- Funding for transgender operas and comic books
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars studying whether lonely rats use more cocaine than well-socialized rats
Paul emphasizes that every left-wing idea imaginable over the last several decades has been funded by the State Department and USAID, yet these programs have nothing to do with peace or diplomacy—the actual purpose of the State Department.
How USAID Spending Actually Works
When asked whether Congress specifically underwrites these projects, Senator Paul explains that most of the time, money is allocated to USAID in large sums—millions or billions of dollars—and the individual projects are decided by the people who work within the agency. Congress typically does not specify how individual grants should be distributed, which is why Paul believes the agency needs to be completely reformed.
The senator praises Secretary Rubio for doing a good job of letting most of these people go, noting that most USAID employees are left-wing individuals promoting an agenda rather than focusing on diplomacy. Paul argues that while there is a need for a State Department as a critical part of government to promote peace, diplomacy, and discussions, programs related to climate change, social media influencers, and transgender operas have nothing to do with these core functions.
USAID spends approximately $40 billion on foreign aid, which is then divided into grants that fund these controversial projects. The more granular detail the American public learns about these grants, Paul argues, the more support there will be for reducing this spending.
Addressing Critics Who Minimize the Cuts
Paul addresses critics who dismiss these cuts as insignificant by arguing that amounts like $100 million or $250 million don't matter in the context of the federal budget. The senator calls this an invalid argument, pointing out that for anything anyone objects to in government, someone could always say it's not enough to balance the budget.
Even if all the waste identified only represented 5% of spending and wouldn't balance the budget on its own, Paul asks why Americans wouldn't oppose the worst and most egregious spending. He compares the approach to immigration enforcement, noting that while the government should end all illegal immigration, it makes sense to start with the most violent offenders. Similarly, starting with the most outrageous government spending is a logical first step toward broader fiscal reform.
The senator emphasizes that Congress must reduce overall spending, and eliminating the most egregious waste is the tip of the spear. Once Americans see this spending eliminated, they'll be more supportive of continuing the process of cutting unnecessary expenditures.
The Upcoming Senate Hearing on USAID
Paul announces an upcoming hearing that will showcase findings from his decade of waste reports, grievances about spending, as well as discoveries from Doge and other investigators. The hearing will feature testimony about the problems with foreign aid spending, while Democrats will likely bring witnesses to testify about why this aid should continue.
The senator makes a broader point about foreign aid: even when spending goes beyond outrageous projects like pride parades and could be considered valid or charitable, there's still a fundamental question about whether the government should engage in such spending with borrowed money. Paul offers a compelling analogy: if someone makes $25,000 a year with just enough money for rent and family expenses, they wouldn't go to a bank and borrow $1,000 to give to a homeless person when passing them on the street. People don't operate that way—they take care of themselves and their families first, and charity comes from what's left over, not from borrowed funds.
The government shouldn't be any different, Paul argues. The United States is essentially borrowing all the money sent to Ukraine—not just charitable aid but all military assistance and everything else. He points out the irony of people complaining about how to be strong against China while simultaneously borrowing from China to pay Ukraine and send USAID dollars around the world.
The Legislative Path Forward
Senator Paul explains that while the Trump administration is doing excellent work bringing attention to USAID waste, and his committee will shine a light on it, ultimately Congress must act through legislative proposals. What the administration is doing at USAID will require Congress to rescind that money through what's called a rescission package.
The good news, according to Paul, is that this can be done by simple majority through a privileged vote, meaning there's no filibuster. If the Trump administration decides to spend only half of the USAID money—or just a tenth—and gives 80-90% back, a simple majority of Republicans in the Senate and House can rescind that money and start saving it.
However, Paul warns that Doge is just the beginning, and Congress must follow through. He expresses concern about what he calls "feckless Republicans" in Congress who love USAID, love all the welfare, and love all the foreign aid. There's a big fight ahead, and Paul urges Americans to watch their Republican representatives like hawks to make sure they actually vote to cut this spending when it comes back.
The senator emphasizes that USAID has been a bipartisan project for the last 30 years. While it's easy to blame Democrats, both parties have grown this slush fund over the past two to three decades. Just as Americans applied full pressure for confirmations of Bobby Kennedy for HHS, Tulsi Gabbard for DNI, and Pete Hegseth for DOD, the same level of pressure is needed for USAID rescission.
Judicial Overreach and Doge Access
When asked about judicial overreach that might justify ignoring federal courts, particularly regarding tensions between branches of government and Doge's access to information, Paul expresses frustration with attacks on young people helping Doge. He highlights one particular case of a young man from the University of Nebraska who won an award for amazing research.
This individual applied artificial intelligence to MRIs of 2,000-year-old scrolls from Israel, possibly from when the Romans invaded in 68 AD. These scrolls were burned and couldn't be read or unraveled without falling apart, but this computer science genius was able to read the interior of the scrolls without unrolling them. Paul argues that Americans should be lauding and applauding this amazing genius for helping Doge reduce spending problems, yet the left is doxing him and trying to get him attacked, which the senator finds despicable.
The Ross Ulbricht Pardon
Paul discusses his long-standing advocacy for the pardon or commutation of Ross Ulbricht, which he has been pushing even longer than many others. He mentions speaking with President Trump about this during his first administration and meeting with Ulbricht's mother.
The case became a cause for libertarians because while Ulbricht was involved with something illegal—a website where people traded drugs—he was given two life sentences. Paul believes punishment should be proportional to the crime, and in this case it was extremely disproportionate. The senator expresses gratitude that President Trump granted the pardon, noting that Ulbricht is still relatively young but spent 11-12 years in prison.
Paul sees Ulbricht's release as an opportunity for him to become a productive member of society again. He believes Trump's decision went a long way toward securing support from libertarians who had a choice between voting for a third party or voting for Trump. The president was honest and kept his word by pardoning Ulbricht, which Paul considers a good thing.
Video Transcript
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[00:36] joining us now is one of the most
[00:39] important members of the US Senate and
[00:42] an allaround amazing person Senator Rand
[00:45] Paul Senator great to see you uh Senator
[00:47] I am rejoicing in seeing finally the
[00:49] country talking about usaid you have
[00:52] been leading this charge for your entire
[00:55] senatorial career trying to get people
[00:58] to care about trans gender monkey
[01:00] surgeries in Sagal you did your you do
[01:02] your annual Festivus report and it
[01:04] seemed as if they just did not quite hit
[01:07] critical mass now we have a national
[01:09] conversation and action around usid I
[01:12] know you have hearings about this
[01:13] tomorrow about Doge and usaid but first
[01:16] Senator remind our audience about your
[01:18] great work on USA and why you have done
[01:21] so much work trying to expose it you
[01:23] know we've been talking for a decade or
[01:26] more about the idea that when we run a
[01:28] deficit here at home we shouldn't be
[01:30] borrowing money to send it anywhere so
[01:32] we send money all around the world but
[01:34] it's all borrowed and now it comes to
[01:37] pass that we find that a lot of the
[01:39] spending is for ridiculous and
[01:41] outrageous things we discovered that 4.8
[01:44] million was spent uh for social media
[01:47] influencers in Ukraine we discovered $3
[01:51] million that was spent on girl Centric
[01:54] climate change in Brazil we discovered
[01:57] $2 million was uh spent uh trying to
[02:01] secure the Border in Paraguay so the
[02:04] list goes on and on from trans operas to
[02:07] trans comic books all the craziness
[02:09] every left-wing idea you can imagine in
[02:12] the last several decades has been funded
[02:15] by the state department in usaid but
[02:17] finally you know with the help of Elon
[02:19] Musk and with the Trump Administration
[02:21] putting a padlock on the place uh it's
[02:23] all coming out and nobody can defend it
[02:26] because it's so
[02:28] outrageous so Senator I have a question
[02:31] has Congress specifically underwritten
[02:34] these projects or is it more that they
[02:36] get a blank check in usaid then
[02:38] allocates it to their choosing and I'm
[02:41] asking for a specific reason meaning was
[02:44] usid said hey here's you know two
[02:46] billion for this 500 million for this or
[02:49] has Congress specifically said we want
[02:51] to have these outrageous projects most
[02:54] of the time money is allocated and usid
[02:57] will get a certain amount of millions or
[02:59] billions of dollarss for all of the
[03:01] projects the individual projects are
[03:03] typically decided by the people who work
[03:05] over there but that's why you have to
[03:07] fumigate the place and why I think Rubio
[03:09] is doing a good job of uh letting most
[03:11] of these people go most of them are
[03:14] leftwing people promoting an agenda so
[03:17] there is a need for a a state department
[03:19] it's a critical part of our government
[03:21] it should promote peace diplomacy
[03:24] discussions but climate change girl
[03:27] Centric climate change influencers trans
[03:29] operas have nothing to do with peace or
[03:31] diplomacy they have to do with a
[03:33] leftwing agenda so really changing the
[03:36] dollars and reducing the dollars is one
[03:38] way to go at it but we also need to get
[03:40] rid of the people so I'm completely
[03:41] behind the Trump Administration uh
[03:43] fumigate the place clean them out get
[03:46] rid of these people who aren't really
[03:48] there for diplomacy but they're there
[03:49] for their left-wing agenda um but you're
[03:52] right that a lot of the money isn't
[03:54] specified necessarily when Congress
[03:56] passes a bill but it's a lot of money we
[03:58] spend about 40 billion Dollar on uh
[04:01] foreign aid which is mostly usaid but
[04:04] then it's divided down into these crazy
[04:06] grants and that's why the more we know
[04:08] about the granular detail of how awful
[04:11] these grants are the more inflamed the
[04:14] American public will be and more they be
[04:16] behind us in trying to reduce the
[04:18] spending over
[04:20] there just to remind everyone $1.5
[04:23] million for advancing Dei in Serbia $2
[04:26] million for sex changes in Guatemala 6
[04:28] million for tourism in Egypt hundreds of
[04:31] thousands for meals that went to
[04:32] Al-Qaeda Affiliated fighters in Syria we
[04:34] are feeding our enemies Senator one of
[04:37] the more outrageous critiques that uh
[04:40] those of us that want to see usaid
[04:42] eliminated or even projects like this or
[04:44] Doge will receive is oh that's only 100
[04:47] million bucks that's only $250 million
[04:50] that's only a couple billion dollar what
[04:53] is your response to the uh where they
[04:55] try to diminish or they try to downplay
[04:59] the significance of these Cuts well you
[05:02] know it's an invalid argument because I
[05:04] can tell you that for anything you
[05:06] object to anything you object to in
[05:08] government I could say well that's not
[05:09] enough to balance the budget but it all
[05:11] does add up but even if it all added up
[05:14] to an amount that was only 5% of
[05:16] spending and it wasn't going to balance
[05:18] the budget why wouldn't we be for
[05:20] opposing the worst and most egregious
[05:22] and outrageous spending that is out
[05:24] there I mean we found uh hundreds of
[05:27] thousands of dollars being spent to
[05:30] study whether lonely rats use more
[05:33] cocaine than well socialized rats so
[05:36] that kind of stuff when you tell the
[05:37] American people it's being spent they're
[05:39] outraged and rightly so but we have to
[05:41] reduce the overall spending and will it
[05:43] balance the budget it it's a it's the
[05:46] tip of the spear Why not start with the
[05:47] most egregious stuff and keep going it's
[05:50] sort of like immigration we should end
[05:52] illegal immigration the people who came
[05:54] illegally should go home but we should
[05:56] definitely start with the most violent
[05:58] and that's not the entire problem but I
[06:00] think almost everybody agrees we should
[06:02] start with the most violent people and I
[06:04] think that's one of the things we're
[06:05] doing a pretty good job or the Trump
[06:06] Administration is doing a good job of
[06:07] getting rid of the violent
[06:10] people I I totally agree so Senator tell
[06:13] us about your hearing tomorrow what we
[06:15] can expect and more broadly how Congress
[06:19] can butress up against the incredibly
[06:21] important work of Doge right now so what
[06:24] we're going to do is it'll be a showcase
[06:26] it'll be a showcase for not only what
[06:28] we've found over the last 10 years from
[06:30] our Festivus our waste report our
[06:33] grievances about spending also what doge
[06:35] is finding what others are finding and
[06:38] we will have people testify to that and
[06:40] I'm sure the Democrats will bring
[06:43] someone to testify why we need to
[06:44] continue all this Aid my point is even
[06:47] when you get beyond the uh outrageous
[06:50] stuff you know the parades The Pride
[06:53] parades and all the other kind of stuff
[06:55] they're doing even when you get beyond
[06:57] that there is a question even if it's
[06:59] something valid like uh something that
[07:01] we're doing that is people would say oh
[07:03] that's charitable should you do that
[07:05] with borrowed money and the example I
[07:07] give is if you make $25,000 a year and
[07:10] you have just enough money for rent and
[07:12] to pay for your family or for yourself
[07:13] it's not that much money would you when
[07:16] you pass a homeless person go into the
[07:18] first bank and borrow $1,000 to give it
[07:20] to a homeless person no that's not the
[07:23] way people operate you have to take care
[07:25] of you and your family first and you
[07:27] don't go into debt to help people
[07:29] through char charity you you charity
[07:31] comes out of your what you have left
[07:32] over what you can save in order to give
[07:35] for charity but the government shouldn't
[07:36] be any different we shouldn't be
[07:38] borrowing money we essentially are
[07:40] borrowing all the money we send to
[07:41] Ukraine not just charitable money to
[07:43] Ukraine but all the military everything
[07:45] we send over there is borrowed we borrow
[07:47] it from China to send it to Ukraine then
[07:49] everybody complains what about China how
[07:51] are we going you know be strong to stand
[07:53] up to China it's like well maybe we
[07:55] could quit borrowing from China to pay
[07:58] Ukraine and to send us Aid dollars all
[08:01] over the world so yeah this is uh the
[08:04] Trump Administration is doing a great
[08:05] job bringing this ahead our committee is
[08:07] going to try to shine a light on it and
[08:09] then we will come up with legislative
[08:10] proposals ultimately what they're doing
[08:12] at usid is usaid is going to require
[08:15] Congress to resend that money so my hope
[08:18] is they send half of it back or most of
[08:21] it back to us and say we're not going to
[08:23] spend it but then Congress to make this
[08:26] all lawful and legal is going to have to
[08:28] vote on what's called prision package
[08:31] but the good news is it can be done by
[08:32] simple majority privilege vote meaning
[08:35] there's no filibuster so if the Trump
[08:37] Administration says we're only going to
[08:39] spend half of the usaid money or we're
[08:41] only to spend a tenth of it we're going
[08:43] to giveing 80 90% back a simple majority
[08:46] which would mean only Republicans in the
[08:48] Senate and the house can resend that
[08:50] money and we can start saving it so
[08:52] people need to realize this isn't the
[08:54] the end of the deal doge is the
[08:56] beginning Congress has to act and you
[08:59] have a lot of feckless Republicans up
[09:01] here who if you watch closely love usaid
[09:05] love all the welfare love all the forade
[09:08] and so we have a big fight on our hands
[09:10] and the people who watch your show need
[09:12] to realize they need to watch like a
[09:14] hawk their Republican representatives
[09:17] and make sure they will actually vote to
[09:19] cut this spending when it comes
[09:21] back this is so important and Senator we
[09:24] could not be more behind you that the
[09:26] same way that we did Full Throttle
[09:28] pressure on Bobby Kennedy for HHS or
[09:31] Tulsi gabard for dni or Pete heg Seth
[09:34] for DOD we need Full Throttle pressure
[09:36] if there's going to be Republicans that
[09:38] are getting in the way of recision of
[09:40] usaid understand that
[09:42] usaid right now that President Trump
[09:45] Elon Musk and the entire great team is
[09:46] going after right now is a bipartisan
[09:51] project for the last 30 years yes it is
[09:54] easy to just blame you know Democrats
[09:57] right now but it has been both parties
[09:59] that have grown this slush fund for the
[10:02] last 20 or 30 years so so Senator
[10:04] finally there's been some talk about
[10:05] judicial overreach that would justify
[10:07] ignoring a federal court uh do you have
[10:09] any thoughts on that on the tension
[10:11] between the two branches of government
[10:13] uh and specifically what's happening
[10:15] with Doge and Doge having access to
[10:19] information you know I think it's kind
[10:21] of crazy some of the the left that has
[10:23] gone after some of these young men that
[10:25] are helping uh Doge one of the young men
[10:28] uh won an award Bo at the University of
[10:30] Nebraska for some amazing research they
[10:33] had these uh Scrolls I think they were
[10:35] from Israel from maybe when the Romans
[10:37] invaded in 68 ad 2,000 year old Scrolls
[10:40] that were burned and they couldn't be
[10:43] read or un unraveled or they'd fall
[10:45] apart and this young man a computer
[10:47] science guy looked at MRIs and applied
[10:50] artificial intelligence to it and was
[10:52] actually able to read the interior of
[10:54] the Scrolls without unrolling them and
[10:56] this amazing genius we should be lauding
[10:59] him and applauding him for having to
[11:02] helping Doge to reduce spending problems
[11:04] and yet the left is doxing him and
[11:07] trying to get him attacked I think it's
[11:11] despicable no I I completely agree
[11:13] Senator last question here and thank you
[11:15] for being generous with your time I've
[11:17] been pushing for a while and you've been
[11:18] pushing for even longer than I have uh
[11:20] for the pardon commutation of Ross alri
[11:23] I know that you mentioned this to the
[11:24] president uh when you saw him recently
[11:26] any comments on President Trump's pardon
[11:28] of Ross Albert
[11:30] you know we we were really excited about
[11:31] it I spoke with president in his first
[11:34] Administration about it I've met with
[11:36] Ross's mom we've talked about it and it
[11:39] became kind of a Libertarian cause
[11:41] because um he was involved with
[11:43] something that was illegal a website
[11:46] that had people trading drugs on it but
[11:48] he was given two life sentences and so I
[11:51] think the crime should be the punishment
[11:53] should be proportional to the crime in
[11:55] this case it was extremely uh
[11:57] disproportionate and so we were glad
[11:59] that the president granted the pardon
[12:01] he's still a relatively young man but he
[12:03] spent 11 12 years in prison and it'd be
[12:05] great for him to get out and be a
[12:06] productive member of society again um I
[12:09] think this went a long way towards uh
[12:12] Libertarians who had a choice of voting
[12:13] for a third party or voting for Trump
[12:16] and uh Trump was honor uh you know
[12:18] honest and to his word did pardon him I
[12:21] think was a good
[12:23] thing Senator thank you so much we look
[12:25] forward to the hearing Thursday thank
[12:26] you for your leadership we really
[12:27] appreciate it thank you
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