In October 2011, Tanden said (in a private email made public by WikiLeaks) that the US had "a giant deficit" and it "doesn't seem crazy" to have "oil rich" nations such as Libya "partially pay [the US] back" for intervention. Tanden said this would be preferable to cuts to Head Start, WIC or Medicaid. Journalist Glenn Greenwald described Tanden's comments as similar to Donald Trump's statements on Iraq's national oil resources: "I say we should take it and pay ourselves back."