CNN: ProPublica: Pence’s office pressured USAID to award grants to Christian groups in Iraq
“Vice President Mike Pence’s office and political appointees have been pressuring the U.S. Agency for International Development to direct its Middle East funding to preferred Christian groups in Iraq, an effort that career officials warned could be unconstitutional, ProPublica reports. USAID last month announced grants to two Iraqi organizations that had been previously been rejected, ProPublica reported on Wednesday…” (Stracqualursi, 11/6).

Washington Post: How Trump’s foreign policy mixes religion with money
“…In her investigation, ProPublica’s Yeganeh Torbati found that the vice president’s office and others had pushed the U.S. Agency for International Development to reroute aid destined for the Middle East to religious minorities. Iraqi Christian groups in particular were specified to have received U.S. money, Torbati reported, citing internal emails and interviews with current and former officials. A spokeswoman from USAID defended the funding as appropriate, while Pence’s office has not commented on the reporting…” (Taylor, 11/7).