WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s recent claim that the Biden administration sent $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, according to an independent U.S. government agency.
Leavitt claimed that the Trump administration stopped the multimillion-dollar shipment, citing it as a “waste of taxpayer money.”
A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) report shows no such shipment. The report did show a “small delivery,” valued at $45,680, was made to Jordan. The territory of Gaza is not mentioned in the 48-page report.
The U.S. government is the largest single global humanitarian funder, giving $13.9 billion in 2024, and the largest supporter of U.N. agencies, meaning any changes to foreign assistance have sweeping impacts across geographies and issues.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver Tuesday for lifesaving humanitarian assistance during a 90-day pause in foreign aid while Washington undertakes a review, according to a State Department memo seen by Reuters.
Just hours after taking office a week ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pause so foreign aid contributions could be reviewed to see if they align with his “America First” foreign policy.
The waiver issued on Tuesday for lifesaving aid comes after Rubio initially gave an exemption on Friday for emergency food assistance.
Rubio defined lifesaving humanitarian assistance as core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, subsistence assistance, supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance.
“This waiver does not apply to activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs … gender or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance,” Rubio’s memo said.
The Trump administration placed more than 50 senior officials with USAID on leave Monday as many were helping organizations deal with the freeze. USAID’s acting head said he was investigating whether the officials were resisting Trump’s orders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
