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Former President George W. Bush, along with former President Barack Obama and U2 singer Bono, comforted the US agency for employees of international development on Monday, taking shots with the president. Donald Trump and his administration that shut down an agency that was plagued by fraud and abuse accusations.
“Stopping USAID is a tragedy and tragic,” according to the Associated Press in a video showing that he was leaving USAID employees on Monday. “Because it’s part of the most important work that’s happening anywhere in the world.”
Obama summarized the decision to close the agency as a “giant mistake,” adding, “Sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will recognize the amount you need.”
Bush, Obama and Bono spoke on videoconference about leaving USAID employees on Monday after the agency officially shut down following a Trump administration report that they overrun on suspicion of corruption and mismanagement. The video conference did not include media members, and the Associated Press reviewed and reported clips from the meeting later that day.
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Former President Barack Obama lamented the closure of USAID during a video conference this week. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
USAID is an independent US institution established under the Kennedy administration to provide economic assistance to foreign countries. This was one of the first institutions the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) investigated in early February for alleged mismanagement and government overexpenditure. The then leader of Doge Elon Musk It denies the agency as “the nest of radical left Marxist vipers who hate America.”
USAID was officially absorbed by the State Department on Tuesday.
Bush, who has overwhelmingly shunned Trump’s public criticism, lamented with a recorded message to staff that the end of USAID marks an end to his administration’s work in rolling out the AIDS and HIV program, which allegedly saved 25 million people nationwide.
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Former President George W. Bush, in collaboration with former President Barack Obama and U2 Singer Bono, comforted the US agency for International Development Employees on June 30, 2025. (Kenny Holston/Pool via Reuters)
“You have shown great strength in America through your work – and that’s your good heart.” Bush said to Uside. Staff, according to the Associated Press. “In our national interests, are the 25 million people who have now died alive? I think so. So too are you.”
According to the Associated Press, Bono, the U2 Fame, recited a poem that he wrote to reflect the closure of USAID and his claim that millions of people around the world are likely to die.
“They called you a con man, when you were our best,” Bono said.
Fox News Digital contacted Obama and Bush’s respective offices on Wednesday morning for additional comments, but was not responded.
Other longtime Trump enemies, such as the former Secretary of State Hillary Clintonthanked the Foreign Services Officer before USAID closure.
“In my years of service, I have discovered that foreign service officers and development experts are one of the most dedicated civil servants I have met,” Clinton posted on X on Tuesday. “Their work saves lives and makes the world safer. Today and every day, I stand with them.”
Obama and Bush have overwhelmingly locked Trump’s views on his lips under his second administration, with both former presidents attending Trump’s inauguration and not oppressing much of his policies. Obama has problems with Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which has cleared the final hurdle to passing and funds Trump’s agenda on social media, but Bush has consistently shunned Trump’s public responsibilities in recent history.
Bono previously argued that cuts to USAID would kill hundreds of thousands of people, and in 2016 he denounced Trump as “the worst idea ever happened to America.”
Former President Barack Obama declined to openly criticize President Donald Trump shortly after the inauguration. (Ben Curtis/Applications)
Secretary of State Marco RubioAs a representative administrator for USAID, he announced that the State Department had absorbed USAID’s foreign aid program as a decades-long program funded actually supported America’s interests.
“Along with creating NGO industrial facilities that span the globe at taxpayer’s expense, USAID has rarely shown since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio wrote in his announcement. “Development goals are rarely met, instability has only worsened and anti-American sentiment has grown.”
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“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has now ended officially,” he continued. “Under the Trump administration, we will ultimately carry out our foreign funding mission in the United States, where our national interests are prioritized. As of July 1, USAID will officially suspend the implementation of foreign aid. The foreign aid program that advances administration policy and American interests will be administered by the State Department with more accountability, strategy and efficiency.”
The closure comes after government efficiency destroyed USAID as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government in early 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The closure comes after Doge destroyed USAID as part of Trump’s efforts to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government in early 2025.
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Trump repeatedly touted Doge’s work for discovering fraud and mismanagement within the federal government. It has identified $22 billion in government “waste” including USAID.
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“$4.5 million for Burma’s diversity, equity and comprehensive scholarship,” Trump said rattled various examples of federal waste. “40 million people to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary immigrants. No one knows what it is. 8 million people to promote LGBTQI+ in the Lesotho nation of Africa.
