USAID marks last day with Obama, Bush criticizing Trump’s gutting of agency
Global News
Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organization, which has been ordered absorbed into the U.S. State Department.
Former U.S. 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 U.S. 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 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 as of Tuesday.
The former presidents and Bono spoke with thousands in the USAID community in a videoconference, 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 his billionaire ally Elon Musk, with staffers abruptly locked out of systems and offices and terminated by mass emailing.
Trump claimed the agency was run by “radical left lunatics” and rife with “tremendous fraud.” Musk called it “a criminal organization.”
Obama, speaking in a recorded statement, offered assurances to the aid and development workers, some listening from overseas.
