Samantha Power

USAID staff served in the world’s toughest places, only to face unlawful firings and defamed reputations. The government concedes no one was fired for misconduct or poor performance. Thanks to Brian Atwood and Kevin Byrnes for fighting to uphold respect for the rule of law. thehill.com/opinion/judiciar…

It was a pleasure sitting down with Angelo Moratti — Chairman of Special Olympics Italy and business leader — to reflect on the serendipity that carried me into government, the grief over all the suffering caused by the killing of USAID, and the importance of combatting the cruelty and lies that are too prevalent in our world. Thank you, Angelo, for pushing us all to do more. Full interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=QpnnJ74j…

One year since USAID was dismantled, and the bill is coming due. On @TheLastWord last night, Lawrence O'Donnell and I talked about the human cost — and Musk's lie that no one has died. USAID staffers repeatedly warned last year about what would happen. Trump, Musk, DOGE, and Rubio didn't care. Full interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=pkFFOY0e…

Almost a year and a half since I walked out of USAID's headquarters for the last time. I spoke with @NPR about the grief — for the 15,000 people who served faithfully, for the programs that were saving lives, for the brand of American goodwill that took 60+ years to build. And about the hope that it can be rebuilt. Full interview here: npr.org/2026/07/03/nx-s1-587…

Huge thanks to @Newshour and @GeoffRBennett for giving the deadly dismantlement of USAID by Musk & Trump such serious and sustained treatment. Clip below, full interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=B7ew4iLd…

Starting in early 2025, Elon Musk and the Trump administration began terminating USAID's programs and firing its staff — with Musk himself boasting about "feeding it into the woodchipper." One year ago today, USAID was officially dissolved, its remaining programs haphazardly folded into the State Department. Amid all the lies and misinformation that have followed, some facts about what has actually been lost: • USAID saved more than 3 million lives a year at a cost of less than $10/month per American. That is what was destroyed. On purpose. • According to Boston University's Global Impact Counter — which tracked deaths attributable to the cuts until it stopped operations in February 2026 — an estimated 781,000 people died preventable deaths in the first year, including 518,000 children. • Global child mortality (the number of children who die before their fifth birthday) rose in 2025 for the first time in 35+ years — by 200,000 additional deaths. • USAID's 50-country disease surveillance network — the system that cut outbreak response times from 2 weeks to 48 hours — is gone. We are now watching an unprecedented Ebola outbreak unfold in real time — with the highest first-month caseload and death rate in modern history. • Programs reaching 93 million women and children were cut 92%. TB programs cut 56%. Water and sanitation cut 86%. Over 2,000 health facilities permanently closed. • 25 million fewer people received humanitarian assistance in 2025. The overall humanitarian budget was slashed 74% — from $14.1 billion to $3.7 billion. • 363 million people face acute hunger in 2026. The famine early-warning system that would have seen it coming went dark for five months. • $1.7 billion in democracy and governance funding (election monitoring, anti-corruption work, support for independent media and civil society) was terminated. • 360+ independent media outlets lost funding. Hundreds of legal clinics closed. • Far from saving money, the Trump administration itself has already said the dismantlement will cost taxpayers at least $19.2 billion in cancellation fees, severance, and penalties. That's more than half of USAID's annual budget — spent on destruction and closeout, not support for vulnerable people. • American farmers, universities, and businesses are among the casualties too. USAID partnered with more than 3,500 U.S. companies and maintained 17 university-based research labs. Its work with U.S.-based contractors and the private sector generated hundreds of thousands of American jobs and multiplied the return on every dollar spent. Those markets and partnerships are gone.

I recently sat down with @Indira_L at The WBUR Festival to discuss the loss of @USAID and its incredible workforce, the future of foreign assistance, the war in Iran, and more. Nearly a year after USAID's dismantlement, the costs of one of the great "own goals" in U.S. history become more visible by the day — as does the indispensability of foreign assistance to advancing American interests. wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/06/…

With such talent and grit, @Ons_Jabeur will make her way back to many more Grand Slam Finals, and her legion of followers will continue to grow. Pure class. #WIMBLEDON – at Washington, DC

Russian fencer Konstantin Lokhanov, whose ex father-in-law leads Russian Olympic Committee, rejects Putin’s lies & condemns the invasion: “When I hear that everything is not clear, what is not clear? It’s as clear as possible. To kill other people is bad.” nytimes.com/2023/07/08/sport…

Uh oh. Venezuela’s attempted comeback causing some issues at the #WorldBaseballClassic (huge Venezuelan crowd here, 3-2 US in the 3rd after VZ scored 2):

Rest in Peace, Judy. Thank you for your relentlessness, your decency, and your courage. You changed our world. #JudithHeumann

Very moving to meet these unsung American heroes who leaped on no notice to fly with 170,000 pounds of equipment to frigid Türkiye to join search and rescue operations.

Just took a walk near Ballinskelligs in a Gaeltacht part of South Kerry, Ireland. Nearly six months after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, signs of solidarity and welcome still visible all over:

Can’t think of a better inspiration for my son to be learning from than the great @judithheumann. Against the steepest odds, she has moved mountains.

Why the IRA legislation matters:

Per NOAA: in the US in the past 30 days, 1,403 daily high-temperature records & 2,856 records for warmest overnight low temperature have been set or tied. 90 million Americans were under heat warnings and advisories on Sunday. axios.com/2022/07/24/heat-wa…