Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) touted the role of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in meddling in the affairs of other countries during a rally outside of the agency’s headquarters in Washington on Monday.
“USAID chases China all around the world, making sure that China doesn’t monopolize contracts for critical minerals and port infrastructure all around the world,” the senator said.
“It supports freedom fighters everywhere in this world up until yesterday, delivering firewood to the brave Ukrainian defenders on the eastern front,” Murphy added.
Murphy criticized Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration’s pause in USAID’s activity and suggested it was related to his business dealings in China. “China is cheering at this action today,” Murphy told USAID supporters.
Most USAID defenders have tried to portray the agency as an aid organization that only works to help those in need overseas. Murphy’s comments are a rare acknowledgment of USAID’s destabilizing actions across the world, which included fomenting the 2014 US-backed coup in Ukraine that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, an effort strongly supported by Murphy.
In the years leading up to the coup, the US provided significant funding to Ukrainian NGOs, civil society groups, and media organizations, primarily through USAID and the US-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In 2013, Victoria Nuland, who recently served in President Biden’s State Department, said the US invested over $5 billion in such efforts in Ukraine following the nation’s independence in 1991.
Murphy spoke alongside the late Sen. John McCain during the Maidan protests in Ukraine that led to the coup. Murphy and McCain were joined on stage by Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the far-right Svoboda party, known for its neo-Nazi roots. “Ukraine’s future stands with Europe, and the US stands with Ukraine,” Murphy told hundreds of thousands of protesters.
Antiwar.com Editorial Director Scott Horton detailed in his new book “Provoked” how Murphy took credit for the coup that ousted Yanukovych:
“On February 25, 2014, just a few days after the successful coup, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut … told C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, ‘With respect to Ukraine, we did not sit on the sidelines. We have been very much involved.’ He emphasized how ‘the members of the Senate who have been there, members of the State Department who have been on the square, the Obama administration has passed sanctions — the Senate was prepared to pass its own set of sanctions.’ It was certain, he said, ‘that the clear position of the United States has in part been what has helped lead to this change in regime.’ The senator added, ‘I think if ultimately this is a peaceful transition to a new government in Ukraine, it’ll be the United States on the streets of Ukraine who will be seen as a great friend in helping make that transition happen.'”
