A pair of former U.S. presidents issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Monday in a farewell meeting to former employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Former president Barack Obama called Trump's decision to shutter the agency "a travesty." He also credited the agency with both saving lives and creating economic growth across the globe.
Former president George W. Bush chided Trump for gutting a program within USAID known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which he credited with saving 25 million lives across the world.
“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart,’’ Bush said in a pre-recorded message. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you."
Trump has raged against USAID since the day he took office for his second term. One of the first executive orders Trump signed described U.S. foreign aid offices as being "not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values."
He then sent Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to investigate USAID's spending and recommend ways to reduce the agency's financial prowess. Musk described USAID as “a criminal organization” and “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America."
The pressure had its intended impact. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously described USAID as an agency with "amazing achievements," swiftly recommended cutting 83% of programs under the agency's umbrella.
U2 lead singer and humanitarian Bono pushed back on these claims during the meeting. Bono described USAID workers as the "secret agents" of international development and hailed their progress at alleviating childhood poverty and hunger.
“They called you crooks. When you were the best of us,” Bono said.
