President Trump said that a US-funded project to strengthen political landscape in Bangladesh worth $29 million had gone to a firm with just two people that nobody had ever heard of.
The newly elected US president was speaking to US governors at the White House on Friday, who were in Washington DC for their annual winter meet, when he spoke about a string of USAID projects that were being axed upon recommendation from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk.
“$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.”
Trump then mentioned, “They’ll be on the cover of a very good business magazine pretty soon, for being great scammers.”
Before getting to Bangladesh, Trump had also mentioned a project going to India. He said, “$21 million [was] going to my friend, Prime Minister Modi, in India for voter turnout. We’re giving 21 million for voter turnout in India. What about us? I want voter turnout too.”
Both projects were in a list of 17 projects, worth millions of dollars, across various international aid programs and initiatives in countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, and India that were cut upon recommendation from DOGE.
