Mike Waltz Shoots Down Claims Cutting USAID Allows China, Russia To Expand Interests

National security adviser Mike Waltz rejected claims over the weekend that the Trump administration gutting USAID would allow America’s adversaries around the world to advance their interests.

Waltz made the remarks during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet The Press” when asked about criticisms from a former government official who claimed: “This assistance is one of the most powerful tools Washington has to push back against Chinese and Russian influence and to prevent transnational threats such as disease and terrorism from reaching U.S. soil.”

When asked if the U.S. would be allowing Russia and China to expand their influence around the world by cutting back, Waltz said: “No, absolutely not.”

“And in fact, this is exactly what President Trump, Secretary of State Rubio, Elon Musk, myself and many others who have worked with USAID are talking about,” he said. “All too often these missions and these programs, number one, are not in line with strategic U.S. interests like pushing back on China. They’re doing all kinds of other things that, frankly, aren’t in line with strategic interests or the president’s vision, number one.”

“Number two, often, all too often, only cents on the dollar actually makes it to people in need,” he continued. “Between the big contractors, the subcontractors, the local contractors, the dollars aren’t being used wisely. We need to take a hard look at it. We need to move quickly. And that’s exactly what’s being done.”

Waltz said that when he was deployed in the Middle East he personally saw how USAID wasted money.

“We saw a radio station with a big ‘Built by America USAID,'” he said. “We go inside and there is literally a black-turbaned mullah backed by Iran preaching anti-American hate. And yet, the USAID officer in charge told me, as a Green Beret, ‘Well, we’re just building radio stations. We’re just handing out food. That’s our job, to just be humanitarian.’ No, we need to realign their mission and line it up with the president’s foreign policy vision.”

WATCH:

.@MikeWaltz47 on USAID: All too often, these missions and these programs are not in line with strategic U.S. interests… Number two, only cents on the dollar actually makes it to people in need. pic.twitter.com/my76zaCF5L

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 9, 2025