Mediaite reports:
In a memo titled, “PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE,” acting deputy administrator for management and resources Pete Marocco advised USAID employees they were “being placed on excused absence (also known as administrative leave) with pay effective immediately.”
“During the period that you are on administrative leave you are not to enter USAID premises, access USAID systems, or attempt to use your position or authority with USAID in any way without my prior permission or prior permission of a supervisor in your chain of command.”
Following Trump’s inauguration, Marocco was tapped by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to oversee USAID, which has been targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
NBC News reports:
In early 2023, online sleuths who aided the FBI in cases against hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters identified Marocco and his now-wife as being among the rioters who stormed the Capitol in 2021, pointing to multiple images of them on the Capitol grounds that day and CCTV video that shows the man they identified as Marocco entering the Capitol through a broken window.
Photos of the person who entered the building were a strong facial recognition match for publicly available images of Marocco, online sleuths said. Marocco, like hundreds of others whom sleuths identified as people who entered the Capitol, was not charged before Trump pardoned all Jan. 6 defendants.
Marocco did not respond to a request for comment. Reached by D Magazine last year, he did not deny that he entered the Capitol, but he referred to “smear tactics and desperate personal attacks.”
There’s much more at both links above.
Trump Official Who Allegedly Stormed Capitol Places Aid Workers on Leave: ‘You Are Not to Enter USAID Premises’ https://t.co/VcnGv4gTiT
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 5, 2025
In 2023, online sleuths who aided the FBI in cases against hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters identified Pete Marocco and his now-wife as being among the rioters who stormed the Capitol in 2021.
Story: https://t.co/XNwBUFnE5F pic.twitter.com/AzSSX2Prui
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 4, 2025
“Pete Marocco, a former Trump administration official who was reportedly caught on camera inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is now working with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition on national security personnel matters.” pic.twitter.com/BXGCamSXDm
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) December 9, 2024