Six sources familiar with this matter claim that the Trump administration reinstated at least six of its recently canceled foreign aid programs on Tuesday.
In an internal email, Jeremy Lewin asked his staff to reverse the terminations. Lewin is also employed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Five sources with knowledge of the situation said that the World Food Programme Awards in Lebanon, Syria, and Somalia, as well as Jordan, Iraq, Ecuador, Jordan, and Iraq, were among the programs he requested to be restored.
We reported previously that the Trump Administration had terminated life-saving aid programs in more than a dozen nations, including Afghanistan and Yemen.
“Sorry for all the back and forth on awards,” Lewin said in the internal email. “There are a lot of stakeholders, and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault, and I take responsibility,” he added.
Two sources claimed that the reversal was due to pressures from the Congress and the Administration, as well as after the U.N. World Food Programme warned that the closure of these programs could “be a death sentence” for many millions.
These cuts are the latest in the Trump administration’s campaign to defund USAID, which is the U.S. government’s main humanitarian agency. Since the Republican President began his second term in January, the administration has cancelled billions of dollars worth of foreign aid.
The State Department didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.