The Department of State criticized the Associated Press for peddling a false narrative on the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and for casting blame on Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the deaths of children in Myanmar.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson with the Department of State, accused the Associated Press of expecting taxpayers in the United States “To solve every problem in the world.” Pigott also noted that “last month” the Department of State “Secured nearly $65 million from partner countries” to help aid the Rohingya people of Myanmar.
“The AP expects the U.S. taxpayer to solve every problem in the world, an impossible task,” Pigott said. “The U.S. is the world’s most generous nation, but we’re not the only one that can help. Other nations must do more. What the AP refuses to cover: Last month we secured nearly $65 million from partner countries to aid Rohingya refugees.”
Pigott’s statement comes as the Associated Press reported in an article from October 8 that one father, Mohammed Taher, who lost his son, accused Rubio of having lied before Congress when he said, “No one has died” due to the Trump administration overhauling USAID.
Taher is described by the outlet as being a member “of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority.”:
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher’s little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: “No one has died” because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: “No children are dying on my watch.”
That, Taher says, “is a lie.”
“I lost my son because of the funding cuts,” he says. “And it is not only me — many more children in other camps have also died helplessly from hunger, malnutrition and no medical treatment.”
Taher’s grief is echoed in families across conflict-ravaged Myanmar, where the United Nations estimates 40% of the population needs humanitarian assistance and which once counted the U.S. as its largest humanitarian donor. Now, in Asia, it has become the epicenter of the suffering unleashed upon the world’s most vulnerable by President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
When asked “who is to blame” for the death of Taher’s son, he casts blame on the United States government, and states that “without rations” they have “nothing,” according to the outlet.
Another person called Victor, who is described as having “headed an emergency program for the aid group Freedom House,” told the Associated Press that “since the U.S. cuts shut down the program, around 100 civilians” have requested help from him, though he can “no longer” give it.
While the Associated Press article casts blame on the Trump administration’s overhaul of USAID, other countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea have pledged millions of dollars to go towards helping Rohingya refugees.
In a statement by James Kariuki, the United Kingdom Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in September, it was revealed that the UK had “Announced a further $36 million to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh,” which would go towards focusing “On meeting the basic, urgent needs of refugees, including food” and clean water.
During a speech at the High-level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and other Minorities in Myanmar, Kazuyuki Yamazaki, the Permanent Representative of Japan to the United States, stated that Japan “signed an E/N” with the World Food Programme “as part of the approximately 18 million USD in funding for humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh this year.”
“Japan commends Bangladesh’s continued acceptance and support of over 1.1 million forcibly displaced persons from Rakhine State, Myanmar,” Yamazaki said. “Through international partners, Japan supports Bangladesh’s efforts in providing assistance to both Rohingya Muslims and host communities. Just yesterday, Japan signed an E/N with WFP as part of the approximately 18 million USD in funding for humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh this year.”
According to data from the Department of State, 11 countries, including Japan and the United Kingdom, “Have increased their aid to the Rohingya people by more than 10% under the Trump administration in 2025 compared to the last year of the Biden administration,” ABC News reported.
Additionally, in September, the Trump administration committed to $60 million in funding “to support Rohingya refugees,” according to the outlet.
In a statement to the outlet, a senior official with the Department of State stated that the “Media narrative that the obligation to provide aid falls solely on the Trump Administration is tired.”
“The Trump administration has continuously called on nations around the world to join the United States in offering humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations like Rohingya refugees,” the official added.
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