Latest news with #Marocco
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rubio's firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world meltdown
Peter Marocco, the Trump administration official in charge of dismantling USAID, left a meeting at the White House last week to return to his office at the State Department. But when he arrived, Marocco could not enter the building: security told him he was no longer an employee there, according to a person familiar with the situation. Word of Marocco's firing quickly tore through the Republican Party and MAGA ecosystem, startling President Donald Trump's loyalists who viewed the aide as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers. Loud voices on the right piled on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing him of undermining their disruptive agenda. Yet Marocco's abrupt termination, which has not been fully reported until now, was not an impulsive dismissal or a case of Rubio going rogue. This report was based on conversations with five people, including administration officials and allies, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. Four of the people said Rubio fired Marocco. They gave varying explanations: one administration official said Rubio and others wanted Marocco out due to what they saw as his bulldozer operating style and failure to work effectively with colleagues; others pointed to substantive disagreements between Rubio and Marocco over how to dismantle USAID. Meanwhile, Marocco allies viewed Rubio and his team as insular, controlling and obstructionist to the DOGE agenda ordered by the president. One White House official said Rubio went to a senior White House aide for clearance to remove Marocco after tensions reached a boiling point last week. They described Marocco's firing as 'the first MAGA world killing from inside the White House.' Marocco did not respond to requests for comment. 'President Trump and his team are extremely grateful for the work of Pete Marocco, who accomplished his mission to fix America's long-broken foreign assistance enterprise,' said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. 'His work carried out many of the President's priorities to eliminate waste and restore accountability to taxpayers, and he will continue to be a welcome figure in the President's movement to Make America Great Again.' 'Pete was brought to State with a big mission — to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance. He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars. We all expect big things are in store for Pete on his next mission," a State Department official said when asked for comment. The political aftershocks from the dismissal continue to rattle through the administration. In the days since his ouster, Marocco's MAGA allies have come to his defense and raised new suspicions of Rubio, including questions about why he would want to protect USAID and whether he's loyal to the president. The anger directed at Rubio by MAGA firebrands provides a vivid illustration of the ongoing feud between MAGA world and the conservatives they view as too much a part of the establishment they want dismantled. And the two men clashed over the Department of Government Efficiency's gutting of USAID, one of the first and most visceral examples of the second Trump administration's more aggressive, burn-it-down approach to the federal bureaucracy. As Rubio maintains what many believe is a shaky hold on his power in the Cabinet, Marocco's ouster may further weaken his position with some of the loyalists in Trump's ear. 'He's really not a MAGA guy, he's a neocon,' a Trump ally said of Rubio, adding that this move 'is gonna bite him.' Another Trump administration official familiar with the situation said Rubio was unhappy with Marocco, but it wasn't ideological. Marocco didn't get along well with many of his immediate colleagues, including people who reported to him. Rubio and others also were frustrated with how Marocco handled his day-to-day duties, the official said. 'It wasn't just Rubio who wanted him moved,' the official said. 'It was a group decision, including people from the White House, who were getting complaints about him.' A former U.S. official in touch with people who worked with Marocco at State echoed that explanation. Marocco had largely sidelined career employees who could help him do his job and was often 'flying blind,' the former official said. Marocco has a history of rankling his co-workers, including during the first Trump administration, when he held several positions. In 2020, he spent a few months at USAID, where his style and demands upset staffers so much that they crafted a 13-page memo laying out their concerns for the agency's senior leaders. Some staffers this time grew especially frustrated at how he worded memos and cables, which later affected court cases involving USAID, the former official said. Rubio announced in March that 83 percent of USAID's programs had been cut, calling it 'overdue and historic reform.' But the former senator from Florida wanted to hold on to some remaining programs, whereas Marocco wanted to fully destroy the foreign aid agency, according to three of the people familiar with the situation. 'That's where the fight happened. They did not see eye to eye on killing USAID off forever or keeping part of it around,' said the White House official. The State Department official pushed back on the idea that Rubio was against a full shutdown of the agency: 'Any assertion that we are looking to keep USAID operational is categorically false.' In late March, Rubio said USAID would be shuttered and the remaining programs – 'elements that directly align with America's national interests' – would be folded into State, 'creating a more streamlined process that will allow for oversight and accountability of every U.S. dollar spent,' the official continued. But that has not stopped a MAGA meltdown over what prominent leaders in the movement view as a betrayal of one of their own. Far right influencer Laura Loomer, for example,published social media poststhat riled up her followers against Rubio. Loomer was in part behind the slew of firings at the National Security Council earlier this month, by making the case to Trump in the Oval Office that certain high level officials were not sufficiently loyal and aligned with MAGA. Marocco is viewed as a 'die hard' loyalist and his moves to cut USAID were among the most popular DOGE actions with the Trump base, according to Trump allies. Rubio, on the other hand, has a tenuous position as Trump's secretary of State, in part because of his history as a more traditional Republican who challenged Trump for the party's presidential nomination in 2016. Since signing onto Trump's team, Rubio has tried to appeal to the MAGA right. He has appeared on various shows that cater to that wing of the party, and his rhetoric and actions, especially in support of the president's crackdown on migrants, has startled many observers who thought of Rubio as more of a moderate. In some cases, the MAGA factions have cheered on Rubio's moves, such as his decision this week to eliminate what was left of a State Department-based initiative that focused on fighting disinformation. Many on the far right viewed that effort as being about silencing conservatives, though its supporters said it was about countering information warfare waged by adversarial countries such as Russia. While Rubio has kept some USAID programs, including ones related to emergency food aid and health, he's also sent signals that Marocco's departure didn't mean the end of cuts to U.S. foreign assistance. Earlier this week, Rubio announced that under his direction, the State Department had 'canceled another 139 grants worth $214 million,' ones he cast as funding left-leaning movements.
Politico
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Rubio's firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world meltdown
Peter Marocco, the Trump administration official in charge of dismantling USAID, left a meeting at the White House last week to return to his office at the State Department. But when he arrived, Marocco could not enter the building: security told him he was no longer an employee there, according to a person familiar with the situation. Word of Marocco's firing quickly tore through the Republican Party and MAGA ecosystem, startling President Donald Trump's loyalists who viewed the aide as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers. Loud voices on the right piled on Secretary of State Marco Rubio , accusing him of undermining their disruptive agenda. Yet Marocco's abrupt termination, which has not been fully reported until now, was not an impulsive dismissal or a case of Rubio going rogue. This report was based on conversations with five people, including administration officials and allies, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. Four of the people said Rubio fired Marocco. They gave varying explanations: one administration official said Rubio and others wanted Marocco out due to what they saw as his bulldozer operating style and failure to work effectively with colleagues; others pointed to substantive disagreements between Rubio and Marocco over how to dismantle USAID. Meanwhile, Marocco allies viewed Rubio and his team as insular, controlling and obstructionist to the DOGE agenda ordered by the president. One White House official said Rubio went to a senior White House aide for clearance to remove Marocco after tensions reached a boiling point last week. They described Marocco's firing as 'the first MAGA world killing from inside the White House.' Marocco did not respond to requests for comment. 'President Trump and his team are extremely grateful for the work of Pete Marocco, who accomplished his mission to fix America's long-broken foreign assistance enterprise,' said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. 'His work carried out many of the President's priorities to eliminate waste and restore accountability to taxpayers, and he will continue to be a welcome figure in the President's movement to Make America Great Again.' 'Pete was brought to State with a big mission — to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance. He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars. We all expect big things are in store for Pete on his next mission,' a State Department official said when asked for comment. The political aftershocks from the dismissal continue to rattle through the administration. In the days since his ouster, Marocco's MAGA allies have come to his defense and raised new suspicions of Rubio, including questions about why he would want to protect USAID and whether he's loyal to the president. The anger directed at Rubio by MAGA firebrands provides a vivid illustration of the ongoing feud between MAGA world and the conservatives they view as too much a part of the establishment they want dismantled. And the two men clashed over the Department of Government Efficiency's gutting of USAID, one of the first and most visceral examples of the second Trump administration's more aggressive, burn-it-down approach to the federal bureaucracy. As Rubio maintains what many believe is a shaky hold on his power in the Cabinet, Marocco's ouster may further weaken his position with some of the loyalists in Trump's ear. 'He's really not a MAGA guy, he's a neocon,' a Trump ally said of Rubio, adding that this move 'is gonna bite him.' Another Trump administration official familiar with the situation said Rubio was unhappy with Marocco, but it wasn't ideological. Marocco didn't get along well with many of his immediate colleagues, including people who reported to him. Rubio and others also were frustrated with how Marocco handled his day-to-day duties, the official said. 'It wasn't just Rubio who wanted him moved,' the official said. 'It was a group decision, including people from the White House, who were getting complaints about him.' A former U.S. official in touch with people who worked with Marocco at State echoed that explanation. Marocco had largely sidelined career employees who could help him do his job and was often 'flying blind,' the former official said. Marocco has a history of rankling his co-workers, including during the first Trump administration, when he held several positions. In 2020, he spent a few months at USAID, where his style and demands upset staffers so much that they crafted a 13-page memo laying out their concerns for the agency's senior leaders. Some staffers this time grew especially frustrated at how he worded memos and cables, which later affected court cases involving USAID, the former official said. Rubio announced in March that 83 percent of USAID's programs had been cut, calling it 'overdue and historic reform.' But the former senator from Florida wanted to hold on to some remaining programs, whereas Marocco wanted to fully destroy the foreign aid agency, according to three of the people familiar with the situation. 'That's where the fight happened. They did not see eye to eye on killing USAID off forever or keeping part of it around,' said the White House official. The State Department official pushed back on the idea that Rubio was against a full shutdown of the agency: 'Any assertion that we are looking to keep USAID operational is categorically false.' In late March, Rubio said USAID would be shuttered and the remaining programs – 'elements that directly align with America's national interests' – would be folded into State, 'creating a more streamlined process that will allow for oversight and accountability of every U.S. dollar spent,' the official continued. But that has not stopped a MAGA meltdown over what prominent leaders in the movement view as a betrayal of one of their own. Far right influencer Laura Loomer , for example, published social media posts that riled up her followers against Rubio. Loomer was in part behind the slew of firings at the National Security Council earlier this month, by making the case to Trump in the Oval Office that certain high level officials were not sufficiently loyal and aligned with MAGA. Marocco is viewed as a 'die hard' loyalist and his moves to cut USAID were among the most popular DOGE actions with the Trump base, according to Trump allies. Rubio, on the other hand, has a tenuous position as Trump's secretary of State, in part because of his history as a more traditional Republican who challenged Trump for the party's presidential nomination in 2016. Since signing onto Trump's team, Rubio has tried to appeal to the MAGA right. He has appeared on various shows that cater to that wing of the party, and his rhetoric and actions, especially in support of the president's crackdown on migrants, has startled many observers who thought of Rubio as more of a moderate. In some cases, the MAGA factions have cheered on Rubio's moves , such as his decision this week to eliminate what was left of a State Department-based initiative that focused on fighting disinformation. Many on the far right viewed that effort as being about silencing conservatives, though its supporters said it was about countering information warfare waged by adversarial countries such as Russia. While Rubio has kept some USAID programs, including ones related to emergency food aid and health, he's also sent signals that Marocco's departure didn't mean the end of cuts to U.S. foreign assistance. Earlier this week, Rubio announced that under his direction, the State Department had ' canceled another 139 grants worth $214 million ,' ones he cast as funding left-leaning movements.
Times of Oman
15-04-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Pete Marocco, key figure in USAID overhaul, leaves State Department
Washington DC: Pete Marocco, who played a key role in overseeing the drastic reduction of foreign aid and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Donald Trump administration, has departed from the State Department, officials said on Monday, The New York Times reported. His sudden exit comes as the department works to integrate the remnants of USAID into the State Department by mid-August. Marocco had been serving as the acting head of foreign aid, overseeing the agency's operations. Sources indicate that Marocco is expected to take on a new role within the administration, although the State Department has not officially commented on his departure. The State Department did not provide an official comment on Marocco's departure. However, a statement from the department's press office that was attributed to a "senior administration official" praised Marocco for finding "egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars" during his tenure. The statement provided no examples of such abuses, The New York Times reported. Marocco had joined the State Department in late January to oversee foreign aid and was later appointed as the acting deputy of USAID by Marco Rubio, the acting administrator, in February. Rubio has publicly justified the reduction in foreign aid, stating it was essential to curb the excessive use of such funds. The New York Times further reported that Marocco left the deputy role last month, and his duties were taken over by Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old employee of the government-cutting task force headed by Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to Trump. Marocco and members of Musk's team entered the headquarters of USAID in late January to dismantle the agency's technical infrastructure, and Musk later called it a "criminal organisation" on social media. Marocco's departure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday. He had a brief tenure at USAID during Trump's first term and has also worked at the State Department and the Pentagon. In 2020, employees at USAID filed a memo accusing Marocco of mismanagement, urging immediate intervention. Morocco had also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs. In this capacity, he led US defence policy across Africa, and served as the senior defence official charged with countering the continent's transnational threats to American citizens, the US homeland, and US allies and partners.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Just Another Lawless Monday
On a particularly lawless Monday, President Trump defied a Supreme Court order on live TV, barred the Associated Press from that event in defiance of a different court order and prompted a fired agency chair to ask for intensive questioning of officials under oath following the government's alleged violation of yet another court order. Since the beginning of Trump's term, it's been a matter of when, and not if, the administration would ignore a judge's unfriendly ruling. Some, including elected officials, have shifted the Overton window to when it'll defy a Supreme Court order, as if ignoring a lower judge is a lesser catastrophe. By either metric, the crisis is here. Trump, beaming alongside strongman Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, performed in a little two-man show where both feigned an inability to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an innocent man the administration admitted that it deported to Bukele's torture prison by accident. Stephen Miller, high on the brutality, chimed in to lie about what the Supreme Court had ordered — a 9-0 ruling that the administration had to 'facilitate' Garcia's return. Outside the Oval Office meeting, the administration was busy defying another court order — keeping an AP reporter and photographer out of the Trump-Bukele meeting, despite a federal judge's order returning the outlet to the press pool. The AP exclusion has been ongoing since February, a fit of pique at the outlet's decision not to use Trump's favored 'Gulf of America' over the 'Gulf of Mexico.' Later the same day, a new filing hit the docket in Brehm v. Marocco, in which lawyers for the fired chair of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) call for testimony from and cross examination of DOGE members and Pete Marocco, the administration official who unwound USAID and was put into place to do the same at USADF. The plaintiffs write that Marocco lied to the court about having fired additional USADF employees and terminating grants, accusing the government of having 'ignored this Court's instructions.' After so many years of conservatives stacking the courts and smoothing the pipeline of right-wing legal thought, Trump has found it more efficient to simply ignore the courts altogether. Further proceedings, particularly in the Abrego Garcia case, will reveal the extent of the courts' appetite to try to punish him for taking a jackhammer to the foundation of our government. But these are dark days. Only four months into his term, and Trump is molding the American presidency into something ever closer to the grinning dictator seated next to him in the Oval Office Monday. — Kate Riga It's for the sin of reporting on the on-the-ground devastation of Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine, it seems. After CBS's '60 Minutes' aired its segment this weekend — it involved correspondent Scott Pelley traveling to Ukraine to interview Volodymyr Zelensky and visit the site of a Russian attack where nine children were killed this month — Trump posted on Truth Social, calling on his FCC chair Brendan Carr to fine and punish the news network. It's an escalation of his ongoing attacks on CBS News and other news outlets, which include blocking the AP from the Oval Office event Monday, openly defying a court order. Trump has been engaged in a $20 billion lawsuit against '60 Minutes' for some time, angered by how the network edited an interview with Kamala Harris. The FCC under Carr's leadership has already launched its own version of an investigation into the interview, which Trump claims made Harris look good. As I noted earlier this month, it appears that the White House is going to formally request that Congress turn its lawless DOGE rampage into formal legislative action — creating a backwards, aconstitutional situation where the executive branch is dictating how the legislative branch legislates. It appears these so called 'recissions' will specifically target the budget for NPR and the State Department, according to Politico: The White House will soon ask Congress to cancel $9.3 billion already approved for foreign aid initiatives, public broadcasting and other programs, according to a White House official granted anonymity to speak freely. Congress is expected to receive that so-called rescissions request when lawmakers return from their two-week recess later this month. To nix the funding, the House and Senate will each have to vote at a simple-majority threshold to approve the formal ask. In a message to the university on Monday, the university President Alan Garber announced that Harvard would not give in to demands from the Trump administration — involving gutting diversity programs, cracking down on student protests, cooperating with DHS on campus and letting the government conduct audits — in exchange for keeping its federal funding. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' he wrote, per the Harvard Crimson student newspaper. What Are Universities Supposed to Do? A Slo-Mo Constitutional Clash Is Already Well Underway Trump, Bukele Condemn Abrego Garcia to Prison On Live TV Senate Republicans' Sneaky Math Gimmicks Foreshadow Plans To Run Roughshod Over The Senate Beyond Showerheads: Trump's Attempts to Kill Appliance Regulations Cause Chaos Trump Anoints Himself With The Power To Secretly Repeal Regulations The Trump Administration Is Sticking to Its Gulag Plan in Defiance of the Supreme Court Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE Trump plan would slash State Dept. funding by nearly half, memo says
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump official who led efforts to dismantle USAID exits State Department
Peter Marocco, an official who oversaw the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has exited the State Department, according to the Trump administration. 'Pete was brought to State with a big mission — to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance. He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars. We all expect big things are in store for Pete on his next mission,' a State Department spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Hill. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Marocco's exit. Marocco played an important part in the Trump administration's efforts to take apart USAID and was an acting deputy director for the agency at one point. According to a statement obtained by The New York Times, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Marocco's 'actions deprived millions of people around the world of lifesaving aid and jeopardized U.S. credibility with our partners.' The Trump administration's dismantling of USAID has resulted in intense backlash from Democrats and signaled what was to come for other agencies and departments across the government. The administration has also moved to formally end USAID, with all of its leftover functions being moved into the State Department in early July. Jeremy Lewin, a USAID official, previously said the State Department 'will seek to retire USAID's independent operation, consistent with applicable law.' 'As Secretary Rubio has said, following congressional consultations, the State Department intends to assume responsibility for many of USAID's functions and its ongoing programming,' Lewin said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
