Leaked audio from private calls among former USAID employees shows a coordinated effort to rally international allies against the current U.S. administration. These individuals, many dismissed shortly after President Trump’s inauguration in January, shifted their internal discussions to encrypted Signal chats just before the transition. From there, they connected with foreign partners and nongovernmental organizations to build what one participant called “a global anti-authoritarian movement.”
Is this an attempted coup? Treason? The Deep State trying to retain control? All of the above? The people involved may claim it was a harmless exercise in venting against an administration that opposed their missions, but this certainly seems a lot bigger than that.
The revelations come from an X thread by user @DataRepublican, who shared clips from the recordings. In one segment, a speaker outlines plans to involve overseas experts: “We don’t have to be intermediaries, either. We can bring in actors, or colleagues from around the world, that dealt with this directly, very specific issues… Whether that’s on tackling corruption or how to respond to corruption, mobilizing around corruption, we can bring those folks in, and kind of be those facilitators.”
This builds on earlier reports of domestic organizing. In July 2025, NOTUS detailed how ex-USAID officials formed groups like DemocracyAID, led by figures such as Ro Tucci and Danielle Reiff. Tucci, once director of USAID’s Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, has conducted workshops on resistance tactics drawn from historical insurgencies. Reiff started the initial Signal group to keep the network alive after the firings.
The recordings point to deeper ties. Participants mention coordination with Johns Hopkins University and spaces focused on international democracy and conflict mitigation. Another clip justifies the global approach: “The authoritarians are already globally networked.”
The effort extends to a web of nonprofits and foundations, including links to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Soros-backed entities like 50501 and Indivisible, which organized protests in February.