The investigation also found a common thread linking a few of these young recruits: billionaire Peter Thiel. Some of them have connections to the tech mogul's fellowship program, with his influence in the libertarian-leaning tech and political world having grown in recent years.

Trump is reportedly trying to close the agency and move it under the State Department, which Democrats warn would be illegal.

The USAID officials had a legal obligation to bar staffers without proper security clearance from seeing classified documents, according to reports