Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama joined U2 frontman Bono on Monday to console USAID employees after the agency was shut down for fraud and mismanagement. In video remarks, Obama called the closure “a travesty” and “a colossal mistake,” warning that both political parties would eventually recognize USAID’s global importance. Bush, Obama, and Bono appeared via videoconference as the agency was formally shuttered following a federal probe, with clips later reviewed by the Associated Press. Earlier this year, USAID became one of the first targets of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by President Trump to eliminate government waste.
USAID, founded during the Kennedy administration, was absorbed into the State Department on Tuesday. Bush, breaking from his usual avoidance of criticizing Trump, lamented the end of a major legacy of his presidency—his global AIDS relief initiative, credited with saving 25 million lives. Bono read a poem mourning the agency’s closure, condemning accusations that USAID workers were “crooks.” Meanwhile, former DOGE head Elon Musk had denounced the agency as a hub of “radical-left Marxists,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that USAID had delivered little since the Cold War.
Rubio announced that all foreign aid programs aligned with administration goals would be transferred to the State Department for greater accountability and efficiency. He said USAID had contributed to an expensive NGO ecosystem with limited impact, often worsening instability abroad. Trump highlighted DOGE’s findings of $22 billion in government waste, citing controversial USAID-funded projects as justification for the agency’s termination. USAID will cease all foreign assistance operations starting July 1.