WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Kevin Rudd received $1 million from USAID.
OUR VERDICT
False. Mr Rudd has received no money from USAID.
AAP FACTCHECK - Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not been paid nearly $1 million by the US government's aid and development agency, despite claims being made online.
The false claim misinterprets Mr Rudd's salary package paid to him by an Asia-focused nonprofit when he was its president and chief executive.
It's being shared as the Trump administration attempts to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is responsible for delivering humanitarian aid overseas.
The agency has been the subject of various false claims, including that it paid celebrities to visit Ukraine and provided funding to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This latest claim is being shared widely across Facebook, Instagram and X.
"Looks like Kevin Rudd was a recipient of USaid. No wonder they are auditing it. 1 million bucks. Cream on top of his taxpayer pension," a February 7 post claims.
"So Kevin Rudd has been paid just under $1 million from USAid while he's supposed to be working for Australia's best interests. I wonder whose interest he has been pushing," another states.
Many posts include a screenshot which claims Mr Rudd was paid $984,222 by USAID in 2022 when he was president and chief executive of the Asia Society, a nonprofit organisation.
Mr Rudd led the organisation from January 2021 to March 2023, and was also president of its policy institute (ASPI) from 2015 to 2023.
He now serves as the Australian ambassador to the US.
However, there's no evidence the Asia Society or Mr Rudd ever received funding from USAID.
The screenshot used in social media posts is taken from an anonymously-run conservative website called DataRepublican, which claims to show entities that have received government funding and their connections to other organisations.
Searching "Kevin Rudd" in the site's "principal officer search" brings up his name under the Asia Society for the tax year of 2022, which appears to be the entry used in the social media claims.
Next to this is a hyperlink which reads "See USAID Grant Flow", which then takes users to the site's "charity graph" and supposedly shows links between the Asia Society and various non-profits which have received government funds.
The site explicitly notes that USAID spending has not been directly distributed to all organisations in its database, but that it aims to show the "broader pattern of funding distribution and influence".
The $984,222 figure attributed to Mr Rudd described as "compensation" is actually his salary from the Asia Society in 2022, according to the organisation's tax filings. It's not a direct payment to him from USAID.
A spokesperson for the Asia Society confirmed the claim was false.
"Asia Society does not receive funding from USAID thus no USAID funds have been put toward compensation or anything else," they said in an email to AAP FactCheck.
In a statement, Mr Rudd's office described the claim as "a lie".
"USAID doesn't fund Kevin Rudd or Asia Society.
"Nor did Asia Society receive any USAID funding during Dr Rudd's period as president.
"It's a lie. Pure and simple," it said.
The organisation has received government funding from other agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Small Business Administration and the State Department.
These grants supported exhibitions for the Asia Society Museum and various research projects.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
