Bush and Obama Break Silence on USAID Shutdown, Slam Trump Decision
Bush, Obama, and Bono Address USAID Staff After Agency Closure
Former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama joined U2 singer Bono in a virtual meeting on Monday with employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), offering encouragement as the agency prepared to shut down following a federal investigation into allegations of fraud and administrative mismanagement.
During the online gathering, both former presidents expressed concern about the decision to dissolve the long-standing foreign aid institution, which occurred under the administration of Donald Trump.
Obama Calls Decision a Major Error
In a recorded message shared with departing staff members, Obama described the shutdown of USAID as a significant and unfortunate mistake.
“Eliminating USAID is both a tragedy and a serious misstep,” Obama said. “The work you’ve done represents some of the most meaningful efforts taking place anywhere in the world.”
He also suggested that future leaders may reconsider the decision.
“At some point, people on both sides of the political spectrum will understand how essential your work truly is,” Obama said, describing the move as “a colossal mistake.”
Bush Highlights Humanitarian Achievements
George W. Bush, who has rarely criticized Trump publicly since leaving office, focused his remarks on the humanitarian impact of programs supported through USAID.
Bush pointed to global HIV/AIDS relief initiatives launched during his presidency, which helped provide treatment and prevention programs in many developing countries and are widely credited with saving millions of lives.
“You have shown the compassionate side of America through your work,” Bush told agency employees. “When millions of people who might have died are alive today, I believe that absolutely serves our national interest.”
Bono Pays Tribute to Agency Staff
Bono also addressed the gathering and read a poem he wrote in recognition of the agency’s closure. The musician defended USAID workers against accusations of corruption.
“They called you criminals, but in truth you represented the best among us,” Bono said during the tribute.
According to reports from the Associated Press, both Bono and Obama appeared visibly emotional during the discussion, while Bush emphasized the lasting humanitarian legacy of the agency.
USAID’s Role Shifted to the State Department
USAID was originally created during the presidency of John F. Kennedy and had long overseen U.S. foreign development assistance and humanitarian aid programs around the world.
Earlier this year, the agency became the focus of scrutiny by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a body established during the Trump administration to identify government waste and inefficiencies. DOGE leadership, including former head Elon Musk, had been highly critical of USAID. Musk previously described the organization as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”
Following the investigation, the government decided that USAID’s responsibilities would be transferred to the U.S. Department of State.
Rubio Supports Restructuring
Senator Marco Rubio, who served briefly as the agency’s acting administrator during its final period, defended the reorganization and said that foreign aid would now be managed directly through the State Department.
Rubio argued that USAID had produced limited results since the Cold War and had become part of a costly international NGO network funded by American taxpayers.
“The era of government-backed inefficiency is over,” Rubio said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, foreign aid programs will now focus clearly on advancing U.S. national interests.”
He explained that beginning July 1, the agency would stop administering assistance programs independently, with the State Department taking control of projects that align with U.S. foreign policy priorities.
Ongoing Debate Over Foreign Aid
The closure is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce federal spending and restructure government agencies. In a recent address to Congress, Trump praised the Department of Government Efficiency for identifying roughly $22 billion in what he described as unnecessary or wasteful government programs.
Among the examples he cited were funding allocations for international diversity initiatives and other development projects overseas.
Supporters of the decision say the change will streamline foreign aid and ensure that American tax dollars serve national interests. Critics, however, warn that dismantling USAID could weaken humanitarian programs and reduce the United States’ influence in global development efforts.
The agency’s closure has quickly become a new point of political debate in Washington, highlighting sharply divided views about the future direction of American foreign aid.
The first time Dante Rossi touched his wife, she begged him not to hurt her.
The first time Dante Rossi touched his wife, she begged him not to hurt her.
He had not even meant to touch her.
He had only reached to lift the veil.
The conservatory at the edge of the Rossi compound still smelled of crushed lilies, damp earth, and expensive deceit. Outside, the final guests were being ushered to their cars by men with earpieces and holstered weapons hidden under black trench coats. Inside the master suite, Aria Sterling stood in the middle of the Persian rug like a porcelain doll someone had trapped in silk.
Her wedding dress was an armor of elegance. Heavy ivory silk. Long sleeves. A high collar. A train so thick and demanding it had taken two maids to carry it down the aisle of the cathedral.
At first, Dante had assumed the gown was merely traditional.
Then he saw what it was hiding.
A dark, mottled shadow peeked just above the silk near her collarbone. Another bruise, fading to a sickly green, curved along the delicate line of her jaw. When he brushed the tulle of her veil back, her entire body went rigid.
“Please,” she breathed. “Don’t hurt me.”
Dante’s hand stopped dead in the air.
He had been called a butcher, a phantom, the newly crowned king of Boston’s most unforgiving crime syndicate. He had heard grown men plead for their lives in empty warehouses. He had built his reign on an iron discipline so absolute that even his rivals confessed he was principled before he was lethal.
But nothing in his violent life had prepared him for the sound of his own bride pleading for mercy on their wedding night.
Aria’s gaze was glued to the floor. Her bottom lip quivered once before she bit down to force it still. She looked twenty-two and utterly broken by the world. The massive emerald on her finger weighed her down like a chain.
Dante took a slow step back.
“Who did that to you?”
Her eyelashes fluttered.
“No one.”
“Do not lie to me.”
“I fell.”
“On both sides of your neck?”
Her silence gave him the answer her voice wouldn't.
For a heartbeat, the oxygen seemed to vanish from the room. Beyond the frosted glass, Boston shimmered cold and indifferent through the heavy November rain. This marriage had been forged to extinguish a decades-old war between two distinct underworlds. Sterling political cover. Rossi brute force. A pact sealed with signatures, veiled threats, and champagne toasts.
Dante had braced himself for an entitled politician’s daughter who despised him.
He had not braced himself for a woman who had been trained to flinch before he even raised a hand.
Aria took a ragged, shallow breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For offending you.”
Dante just stared at her.
Then he turned on his heel, walked to the heavy oak door, and gripped the brass handle.
Aria’s head snapped up, pure panic flooding her eyes. “Where are you going?”
“To the guest wing.”
“But we’re expected to—”
“We’re expected to what?” His tone came out harsher than he wanted. He reined it in with sheer willpower. “Finalize the treaty? Give your father his proof? Let a compound full of armed guards think they own the rights to what happens in this bed?”
All the color drained from her face.
Dante squeezed the door handle until the metal dug into his palm. “Listen to me very closely, Aria. I do not lay hands on women who don’t want my touch. I do not extract obedience from someone who is already shivering in fear. This room is yours. The lock works from the inside. There is food in the adjoining kitchen. If you decide to walk out the front gates, no one will stand in your way.”
She stared at him as if he had just recited a poem in a dead language.
“You aren't mad?”
“I am enraged,” he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. “Just not at you.”
Then he stepped out and left her alone.
Only when the latch clicked into place did Aria collapse against the edge of the mattress. She pressed both palms over her mouth, trembling so violently that the heavy silk of her dress rustled like dry leaves.
She thought she had just escaped one monster.
Perhaps she hadn't been traded to another after all.
But hope was a deadly thing. Hope made people drop their guard. And Aria Sterling had survived far too much violence to put her faith in a single act of grace.
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