The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 8th, 2025: Trump Takes A Wrecking Ball To USAID & Declassifies JFK Files
Sat, 08 Feb 2025
In this episode of PDB Situation Report: The Trump administration moves to reform the federal government, setting its sights on USAID; the agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. Former Congressman Jim Renacci joins us to break down what this means. President Trump issues an executive order to declassify records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Author Gerald Posner shares insights on what may, or may not, be revealed. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the Trump administration's plans for USAID?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, and your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll begin today's show with the Trump administration's efforts to reform the federal government. Well, good luck with that. And specifically, its targeting of USAID. That's the agency ostensibly responsible for administrating civilian foreign aid.
Former Congressman Jim Renacci will join us to give his insight on that. Later in the program, President Trump issued an executive order last month to declassify records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, former Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Now, author Gerald Posner, he's spent a lot of time researching these assassinations.
He'll stop by to explain what we should and shouldn't expect to learn in the coming days. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. President Trump and Doge are taking a sledgehammer to the United States Agency for International Development, announcing massive layoffs and then folding that remnants of USAID into the State Department.
Chapter 2: What are the arguments for and against USAID?
To some, USAID was a pillar of American soft power, providing aid, shaping global influence and furthering U.S. interests abroad. To others, well, it was a taxpayer-funded boondoggle. And when was the last time you heard the word boondoggle? Propping up far-left pet projects, including DEI initiatives worldwide. So what's the reality? Is USAID an essential tool for diplomacy?
Or is it bureaucratic waste? Or is it something in between? Well, joining me now to break it down is former Ohio Congressman Jim Branesi. Congressman, thank you very much for taking the time to join us here on the Situation Report. Well, let's start out with how would I refer to this?
It could be a salacious question, but if you wouldn't mind, you've spent a lot of time looking at the issue of government spending of USAID and waste and fraud and government. What are the most egregious cases of wasteful spending that you've seen in your experience with USAID?
Anything that doesn't relate to a requirement to benefit the United States government and taxpayers, in my mind, is an egregious situation. Whether you're buying condoms for, you know, one country or, you know, all these things that we're hearing, they're all egregious. Because in the end, what we really want to have is we want to, that entity was formed in 1991.
Chapter 3: What wasteful spending has been reported in USAID?
And the goal really was to make sure that other countries around the world realized that the United States was a friend. Because if we remember, back then we had a Cold War and we had Russia doing the exact same thing. So that was the purpose. Now the purpose of the organization still should be doing some of that.
And remember, China today is the enemy that is doing a little bit of that around the world, too. So anything that relates to making sure that other countries realize that the United States is a, you know, as far as I'm concerned, is, you know, we're trying to build our relationship. That's a positive thing.
Yeah. I think just for the benefit of our situation report viewers, the reference to condoms is, we talked about this on the PDB. We highlighted it as a story, believe it or not. I think it was actually the first condom story we've done on the PDB.
But there apparently was upwards of, depending on who you talk to, upwards of $100 million set aside for a health initiative that included tens of millions of dollars of condoms for the residents of Gaza. So I thought we'd just get that out on the table. So I take your point, and I agree 100%.
Look, there's a real need for, however you want to refer to it, a tool of diplomacy, the use or the extension of soft power from America. And that was, you're absolutely right, that was a key element of this, the driver behind USAID at the outset. How did it change, right? At what point? Is it too much autonomy with USAID?
So is this a matter of not shutting it down but reimagining it perhaps as an element of a different organization?
It's one of the reasons I left Congress. I was so frustrated. Here I'm a successful businessman. You've got to look at your expenditures. We weren't doing it. Congress has no oversight on these agencies. Congress has not – doing a budget on an annual basis. Congress is not doing all of their spending reviews. All of this is a normal job of the United States Congress.
We have appropriations bills that are supposed to be passed. We have budgets that are supposed to be passed. Most of your listeners don't realize we haven't done that probably for 25 to 30 years, if you go back to where we've really done both.
That's going to shock a lot of people. How could they not have oversight of expenditures from an organization like USAID? Or how could they have just dropped the ball on their other responsibilities in terms of audits and efficiency when Congress holds the purse strings?
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Chapter 4: How has Congress failed in oversight of USAID?
But why not? I guess that's the big question that I have, and I suspect a lot of people have listening to you talk about this.
Yeah, well, look, it's one of the reasons when I was there, we couldn't get a budget passed when we tried to cut costs. And that's why we get the CRs. I don't know if your listeners understand what a CR is, but it's just a continuing resolution. And that's the real problem in Washington. You can't, like, and I was a member of Congress, but you can't blame, you can't.
blame President Biden, you can't blame Bush, you can't blame if you're not doing your job. You've got to blame Congress for not doing enough oversight. Now, here's why I give President Trump a whole lot of credit. He probably doesn't have the authority to do some of the things he's doing, And that's what the Democrats are complaining about. They're saying, he doesn't have this authority.
He can't cut this cost. And it's probably true, and there'll be lawsuits about it. But I think he learned from 2017 to 2020 that if he doesn't do this, Congress won't do it.
I want to circle back to USAID specifically, but before I do, I just want to drill down a little bit more because I'm fascinated by this. I would have assumed that an organization such as USAID every year would be required to submit a proposal for their budget. and they would have line items.
Now, obviously, there will be certain events that come up, one-offs and events of the moment that have to be dealt with in an ad hoc manner. But for the most part, I would imagine that they were proposing a budget and that Congress would then, whether it's OMB or whomever, would then be going through that budget and approving it sort of on a line item basis.
And that doesn't happen from what you're saying.
No, it doesn't. And look, it might not even be a line item. They may say, we're going to spend $20 million in Africa. We're going to spend $10 million in this country. They should at least be doing that. And then Congress should be looking at what they're spending it on. And that should be the oversight. So that's a twofold thing that should be done by Congress.
Remember, that's also the number one goal of Congress, oversight. And we're not doing enough of that. So I really do blame Congress for a lot of this. If we pass budgets that said, in total, we're going to spend X amount of dollars for aid to other countries. And then in the appropriations bills, you say, we're going to allocate $50 million or $50 billion, or whatever the number is, to USAID.
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Chapter 5: What role should Congress play in USAID's funding?
They do think we have to have an agency that's under control of the State Department, and that should be a division of the Secretary of State's office. These are expenditures, again, to promote the United States around the world and the influence of the United States versus China, versus Russia, That's the whole goal of USAIP. But we've gotten away from that and there's no oversight.
So I think if you take that organization and you put it under the Secretary of State, which is what we have now, that's what President Trump has done. And then you ask, you know, the Secretary of State to monitor, oversee those expenditures. But you also have to have Congress to agree to spend them. See, that's the key. And I know people get mad at this, but
In Washington, it's Congress's job to authorize and approve expenditures. They have the power of the purse. The president does not have the power of the purse. And what we have now is a president saying, hey, you're not doing your job. I'm going to take some of that power away and I'm going to just cut it.
And you're going to have to do your oversight and all those things, especially when it comes to USAID. But look, we could talk about every agency without a budget, without appropriation bills, any stream of spending and no oversight.
Do you think the president has overstepped in terms of, again, I'm just focusing on USAID. Do you think he's overstepped his authority?
Well, I would tell you this. In 2017, the president tried to cut spending in USAID, and I think it's the budget office came back and ruled that it was not proper for him to do that. It was the impounding act. Impalement, control out. They said back then, President Trump, you can't do this. This is authorized by Congress. You're not allowed to do this.
Now, Trump, President Trump oversees those agencies, so he should have some authority to oversee what they're spending. This organization was set up back in 1961, authorized by Congress to be an independent agency, which might be a problem, which means we might have to change that. So I think we've got to look at all of these things, because here's the problem at Washington.
What was good in 1961 might not be necessary in 2025. And I think we're running into some of that now.
Why was it set up as an independent agency? Why would it be given that sort of autonomy if, in fact, it is designed to be a tool of projection of U.S. diplomacy and power and influence?
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Chapter 6: What changes could improve government efficiency?
Yeah, I don't know that it takes a rocket scientist or anybody with any government experience to imagine that that's problematic to say you're going to set up an autonomous independent organization to spend money. I don't have any issue with the current administration, with the Trump administration saying we're going to take a fine tooth comb to every dollar that goes out.
every tax dollar that goes out that the US government spends to ensure that it is in the best interests of the American taxpayer, of US national security, et cetera. How do you feel, and again, I know this was a sort of soft science, I'm asking you for opinion rather than talking about facts, but how do you feel about how the Trump administration went after USAID?
It was fairly, what should I say, aggressive, sort of a weekend purge of their offices in a way.
When you talk about Congress authorizing organizations, they do that all the time. They authorize the organization to oversee banks. They separated it. Congress has no authority over it. That was a law passed. And all they have to do is fund it. Chavious organization out there.
building buildings, paying for buildings, renovating buildings, overseeing our financial systems after the 2007 collapse, and yet there's no oversight or accountability. So that organization is also set up as a separate, distinct organization that can't be controlled by Congress. Now it can be stopped. It can be eliminated.
When it comes out, President Trump did this, look, I think he's just so fed up with the inability for Congress to do things. He is doing things quickly. He's moving very fast. I think he pauses after. This is probably one of those he probably needed to pause before he did everything he did, but again, I'm sure he is so frustrated and he wants to move the needle, he doesn't have a lot of time.
President Trump's got four more years and probably only two more years, because we all know that two years into a current president term, they usually lose members of the House and members of the Senate. I'm not saying that's going to happen here, but I think if you look at history, it's going to. So, this president has two years and he can't wait. And for that, you have to applaud him.
Now, there will be a tremendous amount of lawsuits, and there will be a tremendous amount of pushback. But in the end, this is a wake-up for the United States Congress.
Do you think it's going to have any impact? I mean, it sounds like the U.S. Congress has been fairly sort of an inert body for a long time. So even with this sort of shock and awe start to the Trump administration, do you think it ultimately makes any difference or are we just going to see continued dysfunction?
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Chapter 7: How does the Trump administration's approach to spending differ?
Chapter 8: What are the implications of declassifying JFK files?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, and your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll begin today's show with the Trump administration's efforts to reform the federal government. Well, good luck with that. And specifically, its targeting of USAID. That's the agency ostensibly responsible for administrating civilian foreign aid.
Former Congressman Jim Renacci will join us to give his insight on that. Later in the program, President Trump issued an executive order last month to declassify records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, former Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Now, author Gerald Posner, he's spent a lot of time researching these assassinations.
He'll stop by to explain what we should and shouldn't expect to learn in the coming days. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. President Trump and Doge are taking a sledgehammer to the United States Agency for International Development, announcing massive layoffs and then folding that remnants of USAID into the State Department.
To some, USAID was a pillar of American soft power, providing aid, shaping global influence and furthering U.S. interests abroad. To others, well, it was a taxpayer-funded boondoggle. And when was the last time you heard the word boondoggle? Propping up far-left pet projects, including DEI initiatives worldwide. So what's the reality? Is USAID an essential tool for diplomacy?
Or is it bureaucratic waste? Or is it something in between? Well, joining me now to break it down is former Ohio Congressman Jim Branesi. Congressman, thank you very much for taking the time to join us here on the Situation Report. Well, let's start out with how would I refer to this?
It could be a salacious question, but if you wouldn't mind, you've spent a lot of time looking at the issue of government spending of USAID and waste and fraud and government. What are the most egregious cases of wasteful spending that you've seen in your experience with USAID?
Anything that doesn't relate to a requirement to benefit the United States government and taxpayers, in my mind, is an egregious situation. Whether you're buying condoms for, you know, one country or, you know, all these things that we're hearing, they're all egregious. Because in the end, what we really want to have is we want to, that entity was formed in 1991.
And the goal really was to make sure that other countries around the world realized that the United States was a friend. Because if we remember, back then we had a Cold War and we had Russia doing the exact same thing. So that was the purpose. Now the purpose of the organization still should be doing some of that.
And remember, China today is the enemy that is doing a little bit of that around the world, too. So anything that relates to making sure that other countries realize that the United States is a, you know, as far as I'm concerned, is, you know, we're trying to build our relationship. That's a positive thing.
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