Trump’s decision to end USAID is constitutionally and legally solid
By Huck Davenport
A cynic might assume that Trump dismantling the USAID would be just another blunder quickly overturned by the courts. But beneath Trump 47’s seemingly brash and impetuous exterior lies a master political strategist and negotiator—one almost unrecognizable from Trump 45.
Trump has set his sights on USAID because he knows it has no legal foundation to stand on. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA) merely granted the President broad discretion to structure foreign aid programs as he saw fit. President John F. Kennedy exercised this discretion through Executive Order 10973, formally establishing USAID as an administrative agency under the State Department.
The legal distinction here is crucial: Congress authorized the President to create an agency, but it did not mandate its creation by statute. USAID was established solely through an executive directive, making it purely an executive entity, subject to modification—or termination—at the discretion of the sitting President. The same presidential authority that created USAID inherently includes the authority to dissolve it.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/trump_s_decision_to_end_usaid_is_constitutionally_and_legally_solid.html