Peter Marocco resurfaces to cancel nearly 50 more grants at USADF

After taking an ax to the U.S. Agency for International Development, Peter Marocco largely faded into the background. But today, he resurfaced — continuing his campaign to dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation. “Posting for @USADF,” Marocco wrote on his X account on Tuesday morning. “Follow for U.S. African Development Foundation notices and updates.” For months, Morocco was at the center of the Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle U.S. foreign aid. He served in a leadership role at every agency he unraveled, gutting programs, downsizing staff, and cutting contracts across the country’s foreign assistance apparatus. That includes not just at USAID, where he served as deputy administrator for six weeks, but smaller agencies such as USADF, which was once dedicated to supporting African-led businesses across the continent. But while Marocco left USAID after six weeks, he remained at USADF — or rather, what was left of it. Today, the agency has just one employee, and a fraction of the over 500 grants it held before Trump returned to the White House. Despite a federal judge stating in early March that he could find “no statute” that allowed Marocco to run USADF, he has continued to do so. And on Tuesday — exactly two weeks after the judge threw out the case against him — Marocco said that he had canceled nearly 50 more grants at the now-hollowed out agency. “I hereby authorize the termination of the following federal grant(s), effective June 12, 2025, pursuant to the terms in the attached exhibit(s),” wrote Marocco in a two-page letter, which he attached to a post on X on Tuesday. “Let this action memorandum suffice as adequate notice given the reasonable steps USADF has taken to locate the grantees’ contact information.” The pair of social media posts was the first public statements Marocco seems to have made since being reportedly ousted as head of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department in mid-April. While at the time, a State Department spokesperson declined to share details about Marocco’s departure, others gave ground to rumors that had been circling across Washington for weeks. “Pete was doing an amazing job until he was abruptly FIRED on Friday under @marcorubio’s State Department,” stated Laura Loomer, a right-wing social media personality and ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, in April. “Rubio has preserved 18% of USAID under the @StateDept, and an internal debate at the State Department erupted because Pete Marocco wants to shut most of the other 18% down.” Now, Marocco’s profile on social media platform X has been largely cleared aside from two reposts from 2013, both of which include #StandwithRand — a hashtag meant to support Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, and his blend of libertarian conservative political ideology. The profile also includes just a single line, U.S. African Development Foundation, and a link to the USADF website, which has been inactive since early March. The handle that Marocco tagged in his post, @USADF, “no longer exists,” according to X. Marocco did not respond to a request for comment on this story or about what he hopes USADF will look like in the future. What’s next for USADF? It’s been four months since Trump issued an executive order that branded USADF, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Inter-American Foundation “unnecessary,” and required them to be “eliminated to the maximum extent” available within the law. Soon after, Trump fired the presidents and boards of all three agencies, and installed Marocco as the board chair and president at both USADF and the Inter-American Foundation. Both agencies fired back in court, claiming that Trump did not have the authority to remove the president or board members from their posts, and that Marocco had no authority to fire staff or cancel awards. For IAF, that worked out well: the judge has so far sided with the agency, temporarily blocking its dismantling by the Trump administration in early April. But for USADF, there was a different outcome. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that Ward Brehm — who was installed as president by USADF’s board in early March and served as the main plaintiff on the case — “lacked standing to challenge Marocco’s appointment,” ultimately throwing out the case. The reason for that, the judge stated, was timing. When the Trump administration fired Brehm, it also fired USADF’s board members — the same individuals who appointed Brehm as president in early March. “In short, Brehm is the wrong plaintiff to challenge Marocco’s appointment,” wrote Leon in a memorandum opinion on June 10. Despite that, other challenges against Marocco remain. Last month, a Zambia-based USADF partner, Rural Development Innovations, and two former employees filed another lawsuit against the now-acting president. They argued that Marocco was “legally a stranger to USADF,” and that “each of his actions taken in attempt to destroy the agency are void ab initio,” a Latin term for “void from the beginning.” “Absent timely relief from this Court, Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm. RDI will not only be forced to shutter entirely, it will unlikely be able to pay its employees the separation costs they are due under Zambian law,” states the complaint, which was filed May 21. “The employees of USADF have not only lost their livelihoods, if they succeed on the merits without preliminary injunctive relief, a final judgment will be a pyrrhic victory.” That case is still making its way through the court system.