Founded to provide foreign aid and support international development, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) operated in more than 100 countries and had a budget of $50 billion in 2023, according to the most recent figures.

But not even a month into his second term in the White House, Donald Trump now plans to cut its workforce from 10,000 employees to fewer than 300.

The overhaul has been accompanied by false claims about an organization Trump's team believes has been wasting US taxpayers' money.

DW Fact Check has debunked some of these claims.

Hollywood stars paid by USAID?

Claim: USAID sponsored celebrity trips to Ukraine, including visits by Hollywood stars Ben Stiller and Angelina Jolie, according to several social media posts, including this video that was reposted by X owner Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr., the son of the US president.

DW fact check: False

The video bears the logo of E! News, an entertainment site owned by NBC Universal. In the video, a female voice explains the goal of those USAID-funded trips was to increase the popularity of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, especially in the US.

An E! News spokesperson, however, told French news agency AFP that the video is not authentic and did not originate from them.

And several of the stars involved have denied having received money from USAID. Stiller, for instance, said on his X account he "completely self-funded" his trip to Ukraine and said there was "no funding from...

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