During a talk at Yale University, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski “begged for money for NGOs and local governments,” journalist Wojciech Mucha wrote on X, posting a clip from the meeting. The revelation echoes reporting by Grzegorz Wierzchołowski and Maciej Kożuszek, who detailed how foreign funds were allegedly used to undercut the conservative PiS administration—a story that has reverberated in Poland and the United States alike.
The piece in question appeared in the February edition of Gazeta Polska. Even Elon Musk weighed in, expressing disbelief at the investigation’s findings. Popular right-wing commentator Mario Nawfal distilled the scoop in a widely shared post on X:
“A Gazeta Polska investigation uncovered that, under the Biden administration, millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars flowed to Polish groups aiming to weaken the PiS government and advance left-wing policies. USAID grants funded activist organizations, progressive media and efforts to silence conservative outlets such as TV Republika by pressuring advertisers.”
Mucha resurfaced a nearly three-year-old video from Trzaskowski’s Yale visit. In it, the politician explicitly urges support for a range of Polish organizations—many of the same groups now at the center of the scandal.
“NGOs in Poland need support, okay? Local governments need support. Volunteers need support…” Trzaskowski says in the recording.