Trump admin cuts hundreds of grants at USADF despite legal limbo

For weeks, the fate of the U.S. African Development Foundation has hung in the balance. But despite ongoing legal proceedings, the Trump administration has moved forward with canceling hundreds of awards — and terminating dozens of staff — at one of the government’s smallest agencies. “We’ve had some hope in the past,” said one USADF staff member, who received their termination notice earlier this week. “But it feels like it’s kind of dwindling now as we’ve seen more of these events unfolding.” Peter Marocco — who is not just the director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, but the purported president of USADF — laid out the latest efforts in a recent court filing. By Wednesday, Marocco had gutted two-thirds of the agency’s awards and 60% of its staff. But five days earlier, a federal judge had ruled that Marocco — who had attempted to dissolve USADF’s sister agency, the Inter-American Foundation, in the same way — had no legal authority to terminate the foundation’s grants and staff. “The President did not have the authority to appoint Mr. Marocco as an acting member of the IAF's Board, meaning that Mr. Marocco's actions in that role were without legal effect,” stated U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan. The decision unwound Marocco’s actions at the Inter-American Foundation and reinstated the organization’s chief executive officer, Sara Aviel. But at USADF, Marocco continued forward, and the budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, stated that the office had terminated $51 million in USADF grants this week. Small agency, big axe Since 1980, USADF has invested in African entrepreneurs, small businesses, and social enterprises. But in February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order attempting to axe USADF, the Inter-American Foundation, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. The administration then installed Marocco — who at that time, was also the acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development — as acting board chair. All other members of USADF’s board were removed, and Marocco voted to appoint himself as the agency’s acting president and chief executive officer. By March 18, nearly 90% of USADF’s 34 employees had been placed on administrative leave. And though Marocco told the courts he had “taken no actions” to terminate staff on March 31, he later admitted he’d begun firing staff three hours later. By April 9, just 13 staffers remained at USADF, including those from DOGE. “In approving these changes, I have endeavored to comply with the directives in Executive Order 14217,” Marocco wrote in a legal filing, referring to Trump’s February directive to eliminate USADF, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Inter-American Foundation, and San Francisco’s Presidio Trust, to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” Throughout the week, the Trump administration also canceled hundreds of USADF awards, with a tweet from DOGE listing some of the grants it terminated on Monday. DOGE, which is run by billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, said the canceled programs included a series of relatively small projects, from an $84,000 business incubator program in Nigeria to a $50,000 dragonfruit farming project in Senegal. By Wednesday, 353 grants and 43 contracts had been canceled, Marocco stated in the filing — and just 156 awards had survived the purge. That’s less than one-third of the agency’s portfolio before Donald Trump returned to the White House. “It takes five minutes to cancel a grant, but potentially months to reverse it,” said one USADF staff member, who spoke to Devex over Signal. “I am hoping the Judge will rule in our favor, and if he does, what will we have to come back to? Irreparable damage has already been made.” The legal battle The core of USADF’s case against Marocco is the same as the one brought by the Inter-American Foundation: The legal team representing Ward Brehm, the USADF president, is arguing that Trump did not have the authority to remove Brehm, or USADF’s board members, from their posts — and that Marocco lacks the authority to fire staff or cancel awards. Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon seemed to agree. He said he could find no statute that gave Trump authority to appoint Marocco as head of USADF. Even so, he declined to file the temporary restraining order Brehm’s team asked for, clearing the way for the Trump administration to continue its dismantling of USADF. “To me, this is the behavior of someone who knows they won’t get in trouble despite breaking the law,” said the USADF staff member. “It is reckless and disrespectful. Why would Pete go through with cancelling hundreds of grants and contracts after the IAF ruling?” The case will pick up again next week, when the parties are scheduled to attend a hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 16.