Karoline Leavitt gave a blistering account of USAID’s absurd spending after Elon Musk moved to shutdown the government aid agency on Monday. Speaking outside the White House, Donald Trump’s press secretary held up a sheet of paper outlining the astonishing taxpayer disbursements, an apparent reference to Daily Mail’s story.

Reading from the sheet, Leavitt went through line by line: ‘ $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces, $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.’ As the liberal mainstream press stood before the 27-year-old stunned, Leavitt hammered home the point.

‘I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going toward this crap and I know the American people don’t either and that’s exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do – to get the fraud, waste and abuse out of the federal government,’ she said.

Leavitt’s appearance outside the White House came as Trump negotiated deals with Canada and Mexico to improve border security after threatening tariffs of 25 percent. Markets rebounded late Monday on the news the tariffs would be paused.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have pointed out that the tariffs would only make food costs more expensive, as curbing inflation was one of the reasons voters decided to give Trump another four years. Leavitt argued that securing the border was more important in the short-term.

Musk’s takeover of USAID has left government employees and contractors shocked and Democrats angered. A number of Democratic lawmakers showed up outside the agency Monday to show support after employees were turned away from the D.C. headquarters Monday morning.

Currently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken over as the acting administrator of USAID. The tariff threats also sent markets tumbling earlier Monday but Leavitt denied that had any impact on Trump striking a quick deal with Mexico. By Monday evening a similar deal was worked out with Canada as well.

‘It had no decision. What impacted the delay on the tariffs was the president of Mexico committing to putting 10,000 permanent soldiers on the U.S.-Mexican border,’ Leavitt said. ‘The president cares about American lives,’ she continued. ‘And as I just said on television, there’s a lot of talk about the markets, there’s a lot of talk about the cost of goods, this administration is wholeheartedly committed to bringing down the cost of living in this country.’

‘You see that through deregulation, through the energy actions this president has taken, also through his commitment to cutting taxes, but when it comes to the cost of an American life, I think that for those of us who have children, there’s not enough money in the world to bring back the lives who have been lost because of the illegal drug and border crisis,’ she said.

‘And the president is committed to ensuring that Canada and Mexico and China understand that the United States is not going to be a dumping ground for illegal fentanyl that are killing young people in this country,’ Leavitt noted.

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