Pete Marocco, Who Helped Gut Foreign Aid for Trump, Leaves State Department
Pete Marocco, who worked with Elon Musk's team to oversee the gutting of foreign aid and the dismantling of the main U.S. aid agency, has left the State Department, administration officials said on Monday.
The abrupt departure comes in the middle of the department's efforts to merge the remnants of that aid group, the U.S. Agency for International Development, into the department by mid-August.
Mr. Marocco had been acting as the head of foreign aid at the department and would have overseen the remaining aid operations, which amount to only a fraction of those active before President Trump took office.
Mr. Marocco is expected to take another job in the administration, U.S. officials say.
The State Department did not provide official comment on Mr. Marocco's departure. But a statement from the department's press office that was attributed to a 'senior administration official' praised Mr. Marocco for finding 'egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars' during his tenure. The statement provided no examples of such abuses.
Mr. Marocco's critics said they planned to continue scrutinizing how he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have gutted foreign aid.
'Pete Marocco's tenure brought chaos to U.S.A.I.D., reckless and unlawful policy to the State Department, and dismantled longstanding U.S. foreign policy,' Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said in a statement, adding, 'His actions deprived millions of people around the world of lifesaving aid and jeopardized U.S. credibility with our partners.'
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