Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration decided to halt all foreign assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), among other agencies. The decision could have dire repercussions for many independent media outlets that depended on U.S. funds for support.
OCCRP’s editor-in-chief, Miranda Patrucic, sat down with Belgium’s Knack to discuss these developments. The following are excerpts from the interview, which was also published by the De Tijd newspaper. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
The Trump administration has suspended billions of dollars in projects supported by USAID, including investigative journalism projects. Had you seen this move coming?
Miranda Patrucic: No, nobody expected this. It literally happened overnight. And it happened with no warning from the Trump administration. The U.S. actually is a major funder of investigative journalists, not just in Europe but around the world. So this move affects every corner of the globe, from Latin America, all the way to the Pacific. Also, OCCRP has been a beneficiary of U.S. funding for many years. One of the reasons we accepted this funding was because good journalism is essential for global democracy.
How exactly is OCCRP affected by the budget cuts?
Patrucic: We have lost 38 percent of our operational funds, coming from USAID, the U.S. Department of State, and the National Endowment for Democracy. As a result, we had to lay off 40 people — one fifth of our staff — and have temporarily reduced some of the salaries of others. But there is more. OCCRP has also been funding a number of organizations across Europe, in some of the most difficult countries. Eighty percent of those sub-grants that we provide to other newsrooms have been cut as well.
What was that money used for?
Patrucic: To provide research, data, digital and physical security training, and so on. For a number of organizations in Europe this cut has had devastating consequences — e.g., in Hungary, Poland, and Macedonia. In Cyprus, we helped establish a center that was 100 percent funded by us. All that money is gone. Just last week, we published an investigation into an illegal gambling organization that was operating all across Europe, and a lot of it was based in northern Cyprus. So you can imagine how essential the reporting in that country is.
What about Ukraine?
Patrucic: Some of the media there have lost 80 to 90 percent of their funding. That creates a vacuum that can be extremely problematic if you're talking about new elections being held in Ukraine. Our local editor said the moment they announced their funding difficulties, people started approaching them: ‘We will pay you. But then you will start reporting what we tell you to report.’ They were probably pro-Russians.
OCCRP’s editor-in-chief, Miranda Patrucic.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network called the withholding of USAID funds from independent newsrooms a ‘catastrophic action.’
Patrucic: With a strike of a pen, U.S. President Donald J. Trump has destroyed independent journalism around the world. He is effectively closing down democratic, independent media. Who is going to fill the gap in Asia? It’s going to be China. Beijing is now going around these newsrooms and offering money. We are not even aware how big a shift we are witnessing. It’s quite scary. I come from Bosnia, a war-torn country. There, one could see first-hand the impact of poor journalism and disinformation.
Has the U.S. co-opted journalism to promote its own interests?
Patrucic: Any donor, any foundation, everybody has an interest. Spreading democracy around the world was a core policy of previous U.S. administrations. And for that, journalism and independent media are crucial. For the U.S., there obviously was an interest for corruption to be reported. Russia is also paying all kinds of actors around the world. The question is: which side do you choose? As an editor-in-chief, as long as I have funding to do any story I want, I’m happy to take that funding if it is coming from a source that is promoting democracy. The bottom line is: somebody needs to pay for journalism if you want democracy to survive.
But how do you guarantee independent reporting then?
Patrucic: OCCRP has never received any kind of specific funding to do a particular story on any topic, and we have never received any instruction or guidance from our donors. Most of the U.S. money has always been used for training and development of reporters.
According to French media outlet Mediapart, Washington had the power to veto the nomination of key personnel in OCCRP.
Patrucic: None of our donors was ever asked or informed about my appointment as editor-in-chief of OCCRP before that appointment took place. Am I not key personnel? Mediapart referred to a very technical detail of a certain grant. When you apply for grants, you list the key personnel who are administrating that particular set of money. OCCRP’s co-founder Drew Sullivan was listed as a key person. But that doesn’t mean that the U.S. government could replace him.
I come from Bosnia, a war-torn country. There, one could see first-hand the impact of poor journalism and disinformation.
To fight the USAID budget cut, OCCRP took the Trump administration to court.
Patrucic: The decision on the foreign aid freeze is illegal and not grounded in law. It’s the U.S. Congress that decides on foreign aid, not the president. So together with other organizations, OCCRP indeed has joined the first lawsuit against the Trump administration over its foreign aid freeze.
How is that case going?
Patrucic: Last week, a federal judge ordered that the funding be restored while the lawsuit moves forward. But we don't know whether the administration will actually comply with the judge’s order. They have signaled they don't think that they need to respect a judicial order. And even if they comply, who’s going to do it? USAID has been practically dismantled, and the staff are on leave. So we are operating under the assumption that this funding will not be restored. But we are determined to fight and keep reporting even with reduced resources.
Not only was your funding cut, OCCRP has also recently been attacked on social media.
Patrucic: We were called a CIA plot to overthrow governments. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I’m a journalist in every cell of my body and every thought in my brain. I love to tell people the truth, there’s no hidden motive or agenda. I report, I publish, and I move on. The attack on OCCRP was very much coordinated. It was produced by U.S. far-right influencers. Their goal was to villainize USAID and weaken independent media. They set a really dangerous precedent.
Protesters gathering outside of the U.S. Capitol to oppose the Trump administration's cuts to USAID.
What do you think was the motive behind the attack?
Patrucic: A story that OCCRP published in 2019 has become the core of the attack by these conspiracy theorists to call us part of a deep state conspiracy against Trump. One of our reporters in Ukraine had actually started investigating Hunter Biden’s activities, but then found out that Rudy Giuliani — one of Trump’s closest associates — had met some dodgy figures there. The story was later mentioned in a whistleblower complaint that got Trump impeached the first time. Now the Trump administration is going after whistleblowers and anybody who has worked on any investigation against him.
The U.S. government has ordered a stop to enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. What does that mean?
Patrucic: In recent years, China has been massively successful in signing multi-billion-dollar contracts around the world. A lot of those contracts were about natural resources and infrastructure such as ports — exactly what the U.S. government is actively seeking. By no longer enforcing that law, Trump is basically saying: Go offer huge piles of money, bribe them, do whatever you need to get those contracts.
How can Europe react to these latest developments?
Patrucic: It’s important for Europe to wake up. This crisis will come back to haunt all of us in Europe. It’s important to realize that Europe has a role to play at the global stage. Nobody else is doing it now. Since 2016, our reporting has helped return about 5 billion euros to the public sphere in the European Union alone — in fines, seizures, and cancelled contracts. We have, for example, reported about yachts and mansions and other assets of the Russian oligarchs. Some of those have been frozen and seized. Without independent media, we will not hear about the corruption that is taking place. And that means that dirty money will also keep coming to Europe. It will corrupt our own societies and make Europe a worse place.
