EXCLUSIVE: Associated Press's journalistic sleight of hand blames Rubio for famine he has nothing to do with

THE LOWDOWN:

• The Trump administration’s State Department is pushing back on an Associated Press story that uses a journalistic sleight of hand to imply that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s budget cutbacks are causing starvation in a large refugee camp.

• The AP’s story claims that food “rations are halved in one of Africa’s largest refugee camps after US aid cuts” and that “funding for the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has dropped after the Trump administration paused support in March, part of the widespread dismantling of foreign aid by the United States, once the world’s biggest donor.”

• The problem with this framing, a senior State Department official told the Washington Reporter, is that “the story about US aid being cut from the Kakuma Camp is untrue, no award has been cut.”

• The State official notes that the AP “vaguely describes this as due to US aid cuts, but this is not directly related to any cuts we’ve made.”

The Trump administration’s State Department is pushing back on an Associated Press story that uses a journalistic sleight of hand to imply that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s budget cutbacks are causing starvation in a large refugee camp.

The AP’s story claims that food “rations are halved in one of Africa’s largest refugee camps after US aid cuts” and that “funding for the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has dropped after the Trump administration paused support in March, part of the widespread dismantling of foreign aid by the United States, once the world’s biggest donor.”

The problem with this framing, a senior State Department official told the Washington Reporter, is that “the story about US aid being cut from the Kakuma Camp is untrue, no award has been cut.”

“The reality is the vast majority of WFP programs remain in place,” the official said.

The State official notes that the AP “vaguely describes this as due to US aid cuts, but this is not directly related to any cuts we’ve made.”

In fact, the official noted that over 85 percent of WFP programs continue to remain active.

“Senior officials are prioritizing key WFP programs and obligating new funds so money is flowing,” the official added.

While Rubio hasn’t slashed the budgets of programs like WFP, he has honed in on programs that are ripe for abuse.

“The article discusses cash transfer programs,” for example, the official explained. “We will continue to supply food but cash transfers are often opaque and unaccountable and not life saving aid.”