The US poured "hundreds of millions of dollars" into Hamas, Republican Senator Ted Cruz told The Daily Caller following news of the Trump administration's pause on foreign aid. The Trump administration had paused the foreign funds to review if aid allocation was aligned with his foreign policy.
“They secretly poured literally uncountable hundreds of millions of dollars toward Hamas, including tens of millions of cash they could never account for,” Cruz said.
"Throughout the Biden admin, they knew the money they were pouring into Gaza would benefit Hamas," the Texas senator wrote in a post to X/Twitter. "They did it anyway."
The Daily Caller reported that over $1.3 billion in US taxpayer funds during the Biden presidency ended up funding groups that either sponsored or directly committed terrorism.
The largest share went to Palestinian organizations.
“The American people deserve to know where their hard-earned dollars are going and spending must be aligned with what is best for our country,” Cruz told The Daily Caller.
Cruz acknowledged that some of USAID's functions are important but that the organization must be held accountable.
Funding terrorism
This is not the first time Cruz - an outspoken supporter of Israel - has criticized the Biden administration's funding of terror.
In a July 2024 statement, he said, “Biden-Harris officials poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Hamas-controlled areas, which Hamas seized, and they ultimately allowed $100 billion to flow towards the Ayatollah in Iran, much of which was also funneled toward terrorism."
"In a very real and direct way, the Biden-Harris administration funded the October 7th terrorist attack, which was the largest one-day mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust," he added.
In October 2023, Rep. Tim Burchett and other Republicans sent a letter to USAID requesting documents and warning of the risks of aiding Hamas.
The US State Department issued a "stop-work" order on January 25 for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, according to a cable seen by Reuters, after President Donald Trump ordered a pause to review if aid allocation was aligned with his foreign policy.