“America Is Better Than This”: Trump Administration Fired This USAID Official, Then Abandoned Her Pregnant Wife In Crisis
Despite serving her country for over a decade, Charlee Doom was left helpless when the Trump administration eliminated funding for medical evacuations for USAID families.
For Charlee Doom, a seasoned conflict specialist and former high-ranking USAID official, the hardest career battles ultimately came in the form of unanswered pleas, bureaucratic indifference, and a country she once served turning its back during the most vulnerable moment of her family’s life.
Doom was serving as the Deputy Director for Economic Growth and Food Security Coordinator in Burma. She found herself abruptly fired from USAID by the Trump Administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while stationed abroad with her pregnant wife and young child. But losing her job, she says, was only the beginning of the betrayal.
When her wife began suffering from dangerous, life-threatening complications at 31 weeks pregnant, the couple requested an emergency medical evacuation—a standard benefit for U.S. foreign service families in medical distress. That request was denied. Twice.
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“My wife was the first person that I have been able to find in the entire 61-year history of USAID that was denied an obstetric medical evacuation, which is a standard right of all foreign service officers and their families,” Doom explained during a CNN interview with Jake Tapper. “And she was denied that right because Peter Marocco and others that are part of this administration deemed the funding for medical evacuation and hospitalization support for USAID officers wasn’t necessary. And so, they zeroed that line item out.”
At the time, Doom was living with her family in Bangkok, Thailand. Isolated from their home country and the support systems that might have protected them, they were left to manage a spiraling medical emergency with little more than personal determination and a growing sense of abandonment.
Despite their efforts—including outreach to lawmakers in Washington—the couple was forced to wait, helpless, as Doom’s wife’s condition worsened. Doom said several members of Congress offered support, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who attempted to intervene.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen in time, and my wife did hemorrhage, and then spent seven weeks on bed rest in between hospitals and at home,” she said.
Appearing via video from their temporary home in Bangkok, Doom cradled the couple’s newborn daughter as she recounted the ordeal. They were, she said, “fortunate” to have their baby safely in their arms. But the danger hasn’t fully passed.
“Because my wife has had a hemorrhage, and also lost more blood during the c-section than she should have, she is still at increased risk for further hemorrhage,” Doom explained. “So, we’re going to try to keep her on light duty as much as possible and make sure that she’s healthy before we get on a plane back to America at some point.”
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“It’s just inhumane,” responded Tapper, adding, “You’re American citizens, I just don’t understand it.”
“There have been so many instances where what has been done to us has been intentionally cruel, and America is better than this,” Doom said. “I’ve been representing the United States of America overseas for thirteen years, and I’ve always, always, always been proud to be an American… I’m having a really hard time understanding how the face of America right now is the face that my child can look forward to projecting herself in in 25, 30 years.”
