The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has come under scrutiny for misusing taxpayer funds by paying for a jihadist’s college tuition. This jihadist later rose to prominence as a key figure in al Qaeda.

Recently uncovered documents, obtained by Fox News, reveal that USAID financed the education of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born terrorist, at Colorado State University. This support was provided years before al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike carried out by the United States.

Records from June 1990, which have resurfaced and been shared online, indicate that USAID approved al-Awlaki’s request for an exchange visa based on his fraudulent claim of being a Yemeni national.

The filing states that AID provided ‘full funding’ for al-Awlaki as a J-1 scholar due to his alleged status as a Yemeni citizen. The State Department awards J-1 scholarships to overseas students who would like short term visas.  

However, al-Awlaki was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico to Yemeni parents. He was then raised in both the United States and Yemen.

Once authorities discovered the falsehood, they issued an arrest warrant for al-Awlaki on fraud charges in 2002.

But prosecutors later withdrew the warrant, according to George Washington University’s research and archival institution, the National Security Archive.

The shocking revelation about free tuition comes amid egregious examples of USAID funding as President Trump moved to shutter the agency.

The moribund foreign relief agency was targeted by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency during its war on excessive government spending.

Earlier this month, Musk called the embattled agency a ‘criminal organization’ and President Trump claimed it was ‘run by radical lunatics’ before ordering it be shut down. 

The USAID file for al-Awlaki shows how the budding terrorist exploited the agency’s penchant for doling out million to foreigners. 

‘This form, dated 1990, confirms that Anwar al-Awlaki was qualified for an exchange visa ad that USAID was providing “full funding” for his studies at Colorado State University,’ it reported in 2015.

‘The document lists Anwar’s birthplace incorrectly as Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, which he later said was a deliberate falsehood offered at the urging of American officials who knew his father so that he could qualify for a scholarship reserved for foreign citizens.’

When asked to list an address on the document, al-Awlaki wrote that he was in the care of ‘USAID/Sana’a.’

He would go on to graduate from Colorado State University in 1994, earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

But after his studies, al-Awlaki started working as a Muslim cleric in cities like Denver, Colorado; San Diego, California; and Falls Church, Virginia.

It was at a San Diego mosque where he met two notorious members of the group that hijacked planes on September 11, 2001: Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

Al-Awlaki would go on to preach that American television had spread immortality all over the world – and that Allah had sent the country AIDS as punishment.

In secret, though, the father-of-three was soliciting prostitutes, which led to his undoing when FBI agents grilled the women about his beliefs and actions.

Eventually, a woman who ran an escort service frequented by al-Awlaki gave him an ominous message. She said an FBI agent named ‘Wade’ had been to her ‘girls’ and he was asking questions about him.

Panicked, the cleric told his brother he would have to flee the country, lest his shameful actions come to light.

He ended up living abroad in the UK, where he spent several month preaching a harder line against the West.

From there, he made his way to Yemen, where he began his decent into extremist. 

By the end of his life, he was the chief propaganda officer for al Qaeda’s branch, and began encouraging violent jihad.

Al-Awlaki was eventually arrested in 2006 on suspicion of holding terrorist ties, as the United States considered him a terrorist sympathizer.

He was released from prison in Yemen the following year, after a Yemeni security official claimed he repented. But by 2009, he was linked to a shooting at Fort Hood, as well as an attempted bombing on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.

The Obama administration ultimately placed him on a target list, and authorized operations to capture or kill him.

Then on September 30, 2011, the then-president announced that al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike.

‘The death of Awlaki marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates,’ Obama declared at the time.

‘Furthermore, the success is a tribute to our intelligence community and to the efforts of Yemen and its security forces, who have worked closely with the United States over the course of several years.’ 

Now, years later, Trump is planning to decimate USAID and merge what’s left with the State Department after ordering a freeze on most foreign aid on his first day in office. 

Some of the most egregious examples of USAID funding included millions to a COVID lab in China, $38 million to HIV research in transgenders, $2.5 for electric vehicles in Vietnam, and thousands for Peruvian trans comic books. 

Dozens of USAID workers were put on leave last week under stop-work orders, while hundreds of internal contractors were laid off.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he was taking over as acting head of the agency – which he said was ‘completely unresponsive’ as he accused staff members of being ‘unwilling to answer simple questions’ about its programs.

He also informed Congress in a letter about the pending reorganization of the agency, saying some parts of USAID might be absorbed by the State Department while others will be completely abolished.

That same day, USAID employees said they were locked out of the agency’s computer systems. The website for USAID was also shutdown as of Monday morning. 

The official government website for USAID and any former links for the site’s webpages now shows a browser error message: ‘This site can’t be reached.’ 

But a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to put roughly 2,200 USAID employees on leave.

The plan will remain in effect, however, until at least February 14 as Trump continues to defend DOGE’s efforts to shutter the storied agency amid mass protests. 

‘We have to solve the efficiency problem,’ the president told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that aired Sunday. ‘We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse – all the things that have gone into the government.

‘You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud [is] there.’