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Rubio officially kills USAID, reveals future home for foreign assistance programs
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USAID will no longer send foreign assistance across the globe, with the State Department taking over any such programs that President Donald Trump’s administration wishes to continue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.
Rubio made the announcement in a Tuesday statement, saying USAID had for decades failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America’s interests. The State Department will take over foreign assistance programs beginning July 1, he said.
«Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown,» Rubio wrote.
«This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency,» he continued.
‘FIRED ME ILLEGALLY’: EMOTIONAL EX-USAID EMPLOYEES LEAVE BUILDING WITH BELONGINGS AFTER MASS LAYOFFS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new policies surrounding visas on Wednesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The move comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted USAID as part of Trump’s effort to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government.
The agency came under fire for many funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to «advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities» and a $70,000 program for a «DEI musical» in Ireland.
As a result, Rubio announced on March 11 that the State Department had completed a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs — cutting roughly 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs.
RISCH URGES ‘TOP TO BOTTOM’ USAID SPENDING REVIEW AFTER WASTE, FRAUD EXPOSED
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to trim foreign aid programs, and many activists have protested the plans. Actress Charlize Theron lashed out at the administration on Monday.
«The world feels like it’s burning because it is,» Theron said at the annual Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program Block Party, according to Variety.
«Foreign aid cuts brought HIV and AIDS programs in my home country of South Africa to an absolute standstill,» Theron said. «All of this is not just detrimental, it’s dangerous. People will lose their lives. Many have already, unfortunately, and at a frightening rate. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this kind of unnecessary suffering.»
Theron also criticized recent immigration raids in Los Angeles and claimed that women and LGBTQ people are also under threat of «being erased.»
Charlize Theron lashed out at President Donald Trump’s administration for cutting foreign aid. (Unique Nicole / AFP)
«Here in Los Angeles, in the U.S. and across the globe, we are moving backwards fast. Immigration policy is destroying the lives of families, not criminals. Women’s rights are becoming less and less every day, queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased, and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal. F— them,» she said.
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Theron emphasized, however, that there is hope in «standing up, organizing, protesting, voting and caring for each other, and refusing to accept that this is the new normal.» She touted her charity as an example.
Fox News’ Diana Stancy and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report
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DOJ silent on whether NYC politician who allegedly assaulted ICE officer will face charges
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As the New York City mayoral results roll in, the Department of Justice is remaining silent on whether it will press charges against city comptroller and former Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander, who allegedly assaulted a federal immigration officer inside a courthouse.
A spokesperson for the DOJ replied to Fox News Digital’s inquiry in an emailed statement, simply saying, «Unfortunately, we are not able to provide any additional information.»
Video footage taken of Lander’s arrest, which was on June 17, shows a chaotic scene in which Lander is hanging onto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they escorted a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza. He repeatedly asked officials if they had a judicial warrant.
«I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant!» Lander said in the video. «Where is it?! Where is the warrant?!»
TRUMP DOJ SUES LOS ANGELES OVER SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested by DHS agents on June 17, 2025. (Brad Lander/X)
The video shows federal officials eventually separate Lander from the immigrant whom the officials were targeting, and they proceed to handcuff Lander. He can be heard repeatedly insisting they do not have the authority to arrest him. One agent seemed to say that he was obstructing an arrest, to which he replied, «I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.»
Hours later, Lander walked out of the federal courthouse where he was being held alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. During a news conference outside the courthouse, Hochul said that charges against Lander had been dropped, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said it was «continuing to investigate» Lander’s actions.
«The safety and security of official proceedings, government officials, law enforcement officers, and all members of the public who participate in them is a core focus of our Office,» said Nick Biase, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. «The Department of Justice will prosecute violations of federal law.»
DHS: ASSAULTS ON ICE NOW UP NEARLY 700% OVER SAME TIME LAST YEAR
New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, the latest politician to be swept up in President Donald Trump’s immigration raids, is arrested at an immigration court, in New York City, June 17, 2025 in this screen grab from a video obtained from social media. (New York City Comptroller’s Office/via REUTERS)
At the time of the incident, Lander was running for the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, a race in which he ended up placing third. Though he was hailed as a hero by progressives, some accused him of purposely getting himself arrested for political clout.
Joe Borelli, a former New York City councilman and GOP political operative, told Fox News Digital that he believes Lander’s arrest was a «staged event.»
«Election day is a week from today, and early voting has begun. Make no mistake, the purpose was to get the headlines that he’s getting,» said Borelli. «It’s instant name recognition and establishing even stronger liberal bona fides.»
Speaking with Fox News after the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused Democrat politicians, including Lander, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, of being purposely disruptive to «get their 15 minutes of fame… off the backs of our ICE law enforcement officers.»
NEW YORK DEM ACCUSED OF ‘STAGED’ ARREST AFTER BEING RELEASED BY FEDERAL AUTHORITIES WITHIN HOURS
Then New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander and the now-Democratic mayoral nominee Zorhan Mamdani appeared on «The Late Show» on the eve of the Democratic rank-choice primary. (Screenshot/CBS)
«We won’t stand for it in this administration,» said McLaughlin. «If you lay hands on an officer or impede their enforcement action, you will be arrested as just as we saw here.»
Weeks later, as New York City released its ranked choice election results, representatives for the Department of Justice declined to say whether the agency was still investigating the incident or whether it was considering charges against Lander.
The DOJ has similarly declined to comment on whether it will file charges against Padilla, who was temporarily detained after interrupting a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on June 12.
DOJ DIRECTS US ATTORNEYS TO SEEK TO REVOKE CITIZENSHIP OF NATURALIZED AMERICANS OVER CRIME
Sen. Alex Padilla is pushed out of the room as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference regarding the recent protests in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Padilla was pushed out of the room by the Secret Service and briefly arrested after trying to ask the secretary a question in the middle of her remarks.
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A DOJ spokesperson replied via email to Fox News Digital’s inquiry about Padilla, saying, «No comment here.»
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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‘Siberian Jesus’ sentenced to Russian prison after harming followers in bizarre cult
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A Siberian cult leader who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison camp after his conviction for physically and financially harming his followers.
Sergei Torop, a former traffic policeman known to his followers as «Vissarion,» meaning «he who gives new life,» and two aides used psychological pressure to extract money from his followers and cause serious harm to their mental and physical health, Reuters reported.
Torop, 64, set up the Church of the Last Testament in a remote part of Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region in 1991, the year the Soviet Union broke up.
NOTORIOUS IRANIAN PRISON BOSS FLEES MINUTES BEFORE ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES AFTER SECRET WARNING
Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, conducts a service during the Holiday of Good Fruit feast in the village of Obitel Rassveta, southeast of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)
He was one of three men convicted Monday in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. Torop and Vladimir Vedernikov were sentenced to 12 years, and Vadim Redkin was sentenced to 11 years in a maximum-security prison camp.
All three men were arrested in 2020 in a helicopter raid that involved the FSB security service, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB.
BELARUSIAN DISSIDENT THANKS TRUMP ADMIN FOR HIS FREEDOM, DEMANDS THE UN ACT
Members of the religious sect led by Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, take part in a procession on the eve of the Holiday of Good Fruit celebration in the Russian village of Petropavlovka. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin )
A bearded self-styled mystic with long hair, Torop claimed to have been «reborn» to convey the word of God. He attracted thousands of followers, some of whom flocked to live in a settlement known as the «Abode of Dawn» or «Sun City» at a time when Russia was battling poverty and lawlessness, according to Reuters.
He told his followers not to eat meat, smoke, drink alcohol or swear and to stop using money.
Investigators said the men brought «moral harm» to 16 people, damage to the physical health of six people and moderate damage to another person’s health.
Members of the religious sect of Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, take part in the Holiday of Good Fruit feast in Siberia. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin )
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Vedernikov had also been accused of committing fraud, the RIA state news agency reported.
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