Power’s solely owned assets decreased while she was in the USAID job. And her financial disclosures show that when her assets, including her investments, were combined with her spouse’s, their value remained fairly consistent throughout her term.
In trying to fulfill his promise of eliminating waste in government, President Donald Trump, along with billionaire Elon Musk, have gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development. Now, they are scrutinizing the wealth of the agency’s former leader.
In a Feb. 11 Oval Office press availability, Trump asked Musk, “Can you mention some of the things that your team has found, some of the crazy numbers, including the woman that walked away with about $30 million?”
Musk replied, “We do find it sort of rather odd that, you know, there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position. Which is, you know, what happened to USAID, we’re just curious as to where it came from.”
Musk didn’t name Power, but two days prior, he shared claims on X about her wealth. Replying to a Feb. 9 X post about Power, he said, “How did she accumulate wealth that is 100 times her after tax salary?”
He also reshared a Feb. 9 post from Mario Nawfal, who hosts an X Spaces cryptocurrency show and has 2 million followers, that read, “Ex-USAID chief Samantha Power’s net worth skyrockets — from $6.7M to $30M on a $180K salary. Samantha Power, Biden’s ex-USAID chief, saw her wealth explode while earning just $180K per year. Where did the extra $23.3M come from? And all of this in just 3 years!”
“Sounds very fishy,” Musk wrote.
Contrary to Nawfal’s claim, Power’s assets did not “skyrocket”; she already held assets averaging a total of $20 million before she became head of USAID.
In his post, Nawfal cited “vBulletin” and “Inside Biden’s Basement” as sources. The latter website, which says it tracks Biden administration alumni, estimated Power’s net worth between $10.1 million and $30.3 million. PolitiFact found no public evidence of the claim from the community forum software program vBulletin, which hosts private forums.
Power ran USAID for nearly four years under President Joe Biden, from May 2021 to January 2025. During the Obama administration, she served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, and held a senior staff position at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013. Power was a Harvard Kennedy School professor and has written multiple books, including “The Education of an Idealist,” “A Problem from Hell” and “Chasing the Flame.”
After Biden nominated Power to be USAID administrator in January 2021, she filed a financial disclosure report as required.
PolitiFact analyzed her financial disclosures from January 2021, May 2022, May 2023 and May 2024. These disclosures generally don’t include assets or government income. They permit officials to report their assets and liabilities in range values, not fixed amounts, so it’s difficult to know their exact net worth.
We took the minimum and maximum amounts of Power’s assets, her spouse’s assets, and “other assets and incomes” she reported, and added them together. Then, we subtracted Power’s reported liabilities to get her net worth.
In 2021, Power’s assets and income sources included compensation and benefits from her teaching position at Harvard University, capital gains from venture capital firm the Social+Capital Partnership LLC, multiple book royalties and honoraria from speaking engagements. In “other assets and income,” Power listed cash values in 12 U.S. banks, several Vanguard holdings, and other stocks.
That year, Power’s spouse, Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law School professor and former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, recorded double the assets of Power.
All the assets listed in Power’s financial disclosure totaled $11 million to $30 million. Power listed one item — a mortgage — under liabilities, valued from $500,001 to $1 million, which would have made her net worth between $10 million and $29.5 million. It was the only liability Powers reported for four years.
Her total combined assets did not fluctuate wildly during her term. In 2022, her average net worth was $20.9 million; in 2023, $18.2 million; and in 2024, $20.8 million.
Her personal assets decreased while she was in the federal agency role. She received fewer honoraria in 2022, 2023 and 2024, her disclosures show.
PolitiFact contacted Power and a Biden-era USAID spokesperson and received no response. PolitiFact also contacted Nawfal and Musk and did not hear back.
BBC and Forbes also fact-checked this claim and found it to be misleading.
We rate the claim that Power’s net worth skyrocketed during her term as USAID administrator False.
