'Number of deaths not known': Senior government official put on leave after cryptic letter

A senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development was placed on leave this weekend after releasing a letter in which he states that the number of deaths from Donald Trump's policies is "not known."

The career official, Nick Enrich, outlined what he called the U.S. government’s “failure” to provide life-saving aid around the world because of Trump's political appointees, according to a Sunday report from the Washington Post.

"The memo, by Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health, contradicts claims by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he has put in place a functioning system for exempting life-saving assistance from the aid freeze imposed by Trump in his first week in office," the outlet's report states.

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The Post quotes the purported Enrich memo as saying, "USAID’s failure to implement lifesaving humanitarian assistance under the waiver is the result of political leadership... This will no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale."

Laura Barrón-López, White House Correspondent for PBS News Hour, posted a more complete copy of Enrich's memo, noting that, "before being put on leave," he wrote, “All or nearly all of the awards needed to implement lifesaving humanitarian assistance were terminated on or before Feb 27th… The number of deaths attributable to the loss of USAID funding and support is not known at this time."