Bush and Obama fault Trump’s gutting of USAID on agency’s last day
CNN
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration in an emotional video farewell with staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development. And singer Bono held back tears as he recited a poem. Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organization, created by President John F. Kennedy as a peaceful way of promoting U.S. national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered USAID absorbed into the State Department on Tuesday.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration – and singer Bono held back tears as he recited a poem – in an emotional video farewell on Monday with staffers of the US Agency for International Development. Obama called the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID “a colossal mistake.” Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organization, created by former President John F. Kennedy as a peaceful way of promoting US national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered USAID absorbed into the State Department on Tuesday. The former presidents and Bono spoke with thousands in the USAID community in a video conference, which was billed as a closed-press event to allow political leaders and others privacy for sometimes angry and often teary remarks. Parts of the video were shared with The Associated Press. They expressed their appreciation for the thousands of USAID staffers who have lost their jobs and life’s work. Their agency was one of the first and most fiercely targeted for government-cutting by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, with staffers abruptly locked out of systems and offices and terminated by mass emailing.
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