Papuashvili attacks USAID after Trump and Musk crackdown

Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has supported recent criticism by senior US officials, including President Donald Trump, against the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), stating that the agency had ‘committed some unfortunate blunders that have not been addressed properly yet’.

Over the last few days, Elon Musk, tech billionaire and head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been leading the criticism of USAID in the US, focusing on the way in which the organisation was spending their budget.

On Monday, CNN reported, citing their multiple sources, that around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week following accusations they had attempted to circumvent Trump’s executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

‘Many more junior staff and contractors within the agency have been placed on furlough as well’, CNN reported.

That same day, US media reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced that he would be acting administrator of USAID, ‘confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department’.

Forbes also reported that Musk said he had spoken with Trump who ‘agreed’ with him that USAID should be shut down.

On Monday, Papuashvili posted on X, adding his own criticism of USAID. In particular, he recalled the error in the parallel vote count during the 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia by election observation organisation ISFED, which received funding from USAID. The error was the basis for accusations of fraud on the part of the ruling Georgian Dream party during the 2020 elections.

Georgian election watchdog in hot water over parallel vote count error

Georgian election watchdog the International Society for Fair Elections And Democracy (ISFED) has found itself embroiled in scandal after admitting to making a mistake in their parallel vote tabulation. Since 31 October’s parliamentary election, all eight opposition parties that won seats have den…

OC MediaShota Kincha

‘A separate issue is the integrity of the then US ambassador to Georgia (Kelly Degnan) who assumed a mediating function between the authorities and the opposition, while, with a high degree of probability, knowing about the falsehood but, nonetheless, keeping silence’, he stated.

Papuashvili claimed that last year he ‘asked’ USAID Deputy Administrator Shannon Green and her deputy Alexander Sokolowksi ‘to shed light on the 2020 scandal’.

‘I was advised to forget the past and look into the future. Well, it seems that now the past is haunting USAID not only in Georgia but in [the] US too’, he wrote.

On Tuesday, Papuashvili continued his criticism of USAID, claiming on X that USAID had spent $41.7 million on Georgia’s elections ‘through political NGOs’.

‘USAID, which was responsible for spreading false PVT (Parallel Vote Tabulation) results and thus participated in disruption of elections in 2020 and continued a similar practice in 2024, must make clear how and why are millions of US taxpayer dollars spent on the NGOs that lead disruption of every election in Georgia’.

Papuashvili also supported attacks on the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US-government funded private foundation that Musk has labelled ‘scum’.

‘Since, finally, the NED issue is being raised in US domestic politics, we have to remember how and who from NED has been trying to mess things up in Georgia’, Papuashvili wrote.

‘For its funding of numerous radical, wokeist, disinfo-spewing parties and organisations, NED may be a scam, indeed’, Papuashvili claimed.

‘In 2020 and 2021, NED directly meddled in Georgian politics through funding supposedly “independent” [opposition-leaning] TV company Pirveli, for ostensibly increasing media freedom and transparency’, he said.

This is not the first time Georgian Dream’s officials have attacked USAID.

In January 2024, Papuashvili criticised USAID for funding ‘propaganda against the Georgian Church’ and ‘financing religious intolerance’.

Papuashvili was referring to criticism of the Georgian Orthodox Church for its handling of a scandal surrounding an icon that featured Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

In October 2023, Georgia’s State Security Service and leading members of the ruling Georgian Dream party accused USAID of ‘inspiring riots’ in the country and training groups that planned riots and intended to provoke violence.

DISCLAIMER: OC Media receives a portion of its income from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Georgia’s ruling party accuse USAID of preparing activists for revolution

Georgia’s State Security Service and leading members of the ruling Georgian Dream party have accused America’s state aid agency of ‘inspiring riots’ in the country and training groups that planned riots and intended to provoke violence. The accusations were first aired on Monday at a briefing by a…

OC MediaTata Shoshiashvili