Bush, Obama, and Bono all appeared via videoconference to speak directly to USAID staff as the agency was officially shuttered following a federal probe into corruption and abuse. Media were not present, but clips from the event were reviewed by the Associated Press.
USAID, founded under the Kennedy administration, was created to provide foreign economic aid. But earlier this year, it became one of the first targets of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was established by President Trump to root out government waste. Then-DOGE head Elon Musk slammed the agency as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
