Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama joined U2 frontman Bono on Monday to console USAID employees and take some final shots at President Donald Trump after the agency was shut down over fraud and mismanagement.
“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said in a video message to outgoing staff, The New York Post reported. “Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.”
He called the move “a colossal mistake” and added, “Sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed.”
Bush, Obama, and Bono all appeared via videoconference to speak directly to USAID staff as the agency was officially shuttered following a federal probe into corruption and abuse. Media were not present, but clips from the event were reviewed by the Associated Press.
USAID, founded under the Kennedy administration, was created to provide foreign economic aid. But earlier this year, it became one of the first targets of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was established by President Trump to root out government waste. Then-DOGE head Elon Musk slammed the agency as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
USAID was officially absorbed by the State Department on Tuesday.
