USAID Under Scrutiny Amid Rumors of Payments to Angelina Jolie and ‘Jeffrey Epstein’
The USAID, or the U.S. Agency for International Development, is in its death throes, with the Trump Administration almost making up its mind to close it as a separate agency or bring it under the aegis of the State Department.
The move is seen as part of a broader initiative to curtail wasteful government expenditure and bureaucracy.
Did USAID Pay Angelina Jolie and ‘Jeffrey Epstein’?
Rumours about how the agency squandered the funds allotted to it have been floating fast and thick, and the latest story making headlines is the claim that USAID made payments to personalities such as Angelina Jolie and Jeffrey Epstein.
There were also claims that Hollywood star Angelina Jolie was paid by the agency for her visits to Ukraine.
🚨Update: USAID paid Hollywood stars to travel to Ukraine to get pictures with Zelensky –
— US Homeland Security News (@defense_civil25) February 6, 2025
Van Dam – $1,500,000
Ben Stiller – $4,000,000
Sean Penn – $5,000,000
Orlando Bloom – $8,000,000
Angelina Jolie – $20,000,000 pic.twitter.com/FuBxn0YIQK
However, investigations have revealed that it was not the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein who was paid funds but Jeffrey E. Epstein, who is a director at Kaiser Permanente.
Regarding Angelina Jolie’s purported visit to Ukraine being funded by USAID, this charge has been debunked by none other than the Russian news agency Russia Today.
The Russian news outlet also highlighted that the rumours were based on a single viral video and that the sources of the video cannot be labelled as reliable.
The Russian news agency did mention that prominent personalities are often reimbursed for their expenses on charity trips; however, in this case, there is no proof to support this notion.
Netizens have also reacted to the rumours on social media in different ways.
One social media user commented,
“My god. Now they think USAID was sending money to Jeffrey Epstein, not realizing that it’s a different Jeffrey Epstein. We are honestly in parody mode.”
Another user posted,
“You do know that Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile and Trump bestie, is dead, right? And that he’s not the only person to ever have that name, right?”
A third person remarked sarcastically,
“Taxpayers paid Angelina Jolie $20mm to visit Zelensky to persuade Americans to be more supportive of Ukraine. You couldn’t have thought the propaganda would be coming out of our pockets.”
In all probability, this was a fabricated video since it does not mention the sources.
Also Read: Did USAID Spend Over $1 Million on Pillow Fluffing Initiative? Elon Musk’s Meme Sparks Debate
