Bush, Obama Join Forces To Criticize Closing Of USAID By Trump

USAID was officially absorbed by the State Department on Tuesday.

In a rare public rebuke, Bush, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump, said the closure ends a major piece of his presidency—the AIDS and HIV relief initiative that is credited with saving 25 million lives around the world.

I think it is, and so do you.”

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work—and that is your good heart,” Bush told the staff. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”

Bono read a poem he wrote to mark the end of the agency, claiming it would lead to widespread suffering.

“They called you crooks. When you were the best of us,” he said.