CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan argued that USAID never funded liberal pet projects like sex change operations abroad or Palestinian terror group Hamas.
In a testy exchange on Face the Nation Sunday, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) highlighted some of the pet projects USAID were found by DOGE to have funded before Brennan jumped in to run interference.
“I asked them to be clear about, for example, their role in funding Hamas in Gaza. They would not comply, they would not tell us what they do. Now we’ve started to find out some of the programs USAID has been funding. Think about it, sex change operations in Guatemala, LGBTQ programs in Serbia, this is ridiculous-” Hagerty said before Brennan cut him off.
CBS News' Margaret Brennan:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 9, 2025
"The U.S. government DOES NOT fund sex change operations or fund Hamas!" pic.twitter.com/A6VsT2ro6g
“The U.S. government does NOT fund sex change operations or fund Hamas. You know that though,” Brennan said matter-of-factly.
Hagerty pushed back, saying, “That is not true, Margaret. I couldn’t get the Secretary of State [Antony Blinken], I asked him three times to tell me that we were not funding Hamas through USAID. He couldn’t do it.”
When asked by Brennan what evidence he had to suggest the U.S. government was funding terror groups like Hamas, Hagerty pointed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose members were found to have collaborated with Hamas.
But Brennan, either attempting to play semantical games or failing to understand how money laundering works, said UNRWA isn’t a terror group.
“UNRWA is supporting terrorist groups,” Hagerty noted.
Hagerty later criticized Brennan on X for being “deceptive,” and offered clarity to her “selectively truncated” segment pointing out that former Sec. of State Blinken could not confirm the U.S. wasn’t funding Hamas.
“I asked Secretary Blinken 3 times during hearings to confirm the U.S. wasn’t funding Hamas. He couldn’t. Yet somehow @margbrennan can,” Hagerty wrote.
You do know you selectively truncated the transcript. So deceptive & dishonest.
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) February 9, 2025
As I said shortly after your selective transcript ended…
I asked Secretary Blinken 3 times during hearings to confirm the U.S. wasn’t funding Hamas.
He couldn’t.
Yet somehow @margbrennan can. 🤔 https://t.co/vdErfsTSeh
Contrary to Brennan’s statements, federal records show USAID did in fact spend $2 million for sex change surgeries in Guatemala.
— $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala https://t.co/Z2Ybin4Ofe
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 3, 2025
Additionally, Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups did receive funding through USAID.
From the Washington Free Beacon:
“For those who believe in a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, elements of USAID have been problematic for years,” said one former State Department official who worked with USAID during the Biden administration. “There was even a lack of embarrassment among some USAID staffers about being associated with terrorist organizations.”
Some of the terror-tied funding initiatives are publicly known. In November 2022, for instance, USAID awarded $100,000 to a Palestinian activist group whose leaders hailed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror group. Just six days before Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel, USAID handed $900,000 “to a terror charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.”
Brennan is either woefully ignorant or a stone-cold liar.
Fortunately, her false assertions can be easily exposed with even minimal research.
This is just another example of why the mainstream media has become irrelevant.
Be sure to visit TheAlexJonesStore.com for merch, nutraceuticals and more!