Thousands of people gathered at the US Capitol on Wednesday after the shocking announcement that the US Agency for International Development was putting nearly all of its employees on leave and recalling thousands of officers from their postings abroad.

I was there to report for the Guardian, and today I wanted to share photos from the rally.

My full story for the Guardian is here, and I hope you’ll read it.

I’ve also been reporting for NPR on the moves to slash USAID:

1. Trump pauses funding for anti-HIV program that prevented 26 million AIDS deaths
2. Trump’s ‘stop-work’ order for PEPFAR cuts off anti-HIV drugs for patients
3. Why does Musk want USAID ‘to die’? And why did its website disappear?

Today, I tried to elucidate why USAID is being targeted by the Trump administration. The big takeaway:

This effort to diminish or dissolve USAID could be a test for dismantling other agencies in the administration’s crosshairs, says Dr. Atul Gawande, former assistant administrator for global health at USAID.

“USAID has become the place where the administration is demonstrating and developing its playbook for eviscerating other targeted agencies,” Gawande said.

The rally reminded me of a story I did back in 2023 about how one program overseen by USAID, PEPFAR, is a bipartisan darling that’s saved millions of lives.

This seems like proof to me that any agency is at risk, even the ones that seem safe now.

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