American Oversight Denounces USAID’s Closure as Politically Motivated Sabotage ‘Behind Closed Doors’
American Oversight is pressing ahead with its lawsuit to uncover the truth behind the agency’s political undoing and orders to destroy records.
With the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officially shuttering its doors, the Trump administration’s prolonged effort to dismantle one of America’s most effective instruments of global engagement has come to an end. In response, American Oversight issued the following statement from Executive Director Chioma Chukwu:
“The closure of USAID marks a troubling turning point for America’s role on the global stage and is a profound loss for the international community. For decades, USAID embodied the values of compassion, stability, and strategic engagement — saving lives, preventing disease, reducing poverty, and promoting democratic values around the world.
“Rather than subjecting the future of the agency to open debate or transparent policymaking, the Trump administration worked to gut USAID behind closed doors, systematically dismantling the agency to achieve partisan ends through deception and destruction — even ordering staff to shred, burn, and delete government records to obscure this damaging work from public view.
“This was not a policy decision — it was an act of sabotage, carried out in darkness and in defiance of democratic accountability. We will continue pursuing the truth through litigation, exposing wrongdoing through investigation, and ensuring that the American people know who made these decisions — and why.”
In March, American Oversight filed a lawsuit to expose the administration’s efforts to destroy USAID records and dismantle the agency in violation of federal law. Soon after, the watchdog filed for an emergency restraining order to stop officials from shredding and burning public records — a request that was ultimately averted after the agency promised to notify the group before destroying additional records.
The watchdog later expanded its litigation to include the potential destruction of records through remote wiping of devices and the unlawful removal of required information from USAID’s website, and to obtain records related to staffing, contract cancellations, and communications among senior political appointees involved in the scheme to dismantle the agency. The litigation remains ongoing.