Speaking to US governors at the White House on Friday during their annual winter meeting in Washington, DC, the newly elected US president mentioned a number of Usaid projects that were being canceled on the advice of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"$29 million to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh. Went to a firm that nobody ever heard of," said the US president. "Can you imagine you have a little firm. You get $10,000 here, $10,000 there, and then we get $29 million from the United States government. They had two people working in that firm, two people, I think they're very happy, they're very rich."
"They'll be on the cover of a very good business magazine pretty soon, for being great scammers," Trump said.
Trump had also discussed a project that would take him to India before arriving in Bangladesh. He claimed that in order to increase voter turnout, my friend Prime Minister Modi in India would receive $21 million. For India's voting turnout, we are contributing $21 million. How about us? I also want people to vote.
Both projects were among the $17 million projects that were slashed on DOGE's advice from a variety of international aid programs and initiatives in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India.
