In a dramatic farewell to a disgraced agency long seen as a slush fund for the globalist elite, former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush made rare joint appearances Monday to defend the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—even as evidence of rampant fraud, corruption, and woke waste prompted its dismantling under President Donald J. Trump.

The ceremony, a closed-press video conference with thousands of terminated USAID employees, quickly became a partisan sob session. Left-wing pop star Bono—known more these days for his activism than his music—choked back tears while reciting a poem. Obama called the dismantling of the agency “a colossal mistake.” Bush tried to salvage his legacy, citing USAID’s involvement in his HIV relief efforts. But none of them addressed the criminal activity and systemic corruption that finally sealed the agency’s fate.

Monday marked the final day of USAID’s existence as an independent entity. After six decades of bloated budgets, unchecked foreign aid, and politically charged programs—often masquerading as “development”—the agency was formally absorbed into the Department of State by order of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Its functions will be replaced by a leaner, America-first successor agency aptly named “America First.”

USAID was among the first targets of President Trump’s sweeping reform agenda, with the agency identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—under the leadership of Elon Musk—as a hub of “tremendous fraud,” “radical left lunacy,” and woke waste.

“It was a criminal organization,” Musk said bluntly earlier this year.

That claim was no exaggeration. Just weeks before USAID’s closure, the Department of Justice convicted two individuals in a years-long bribery and kickback scheme that cost taxpayers millions. The scandal triggered an even broader audit: The Small Business Administration is now conducting a full-scale review of every federal grant and contract officer tied to USAID's business development efforts dating back to 2010.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, in a scathing letter obtained by Fox News Digital, called the scandal “a damning reflection of systemic failures in oversight and accountability.”

“This was not an isolated incident,” Loeffler wrote.

Among those implicated was USAID contracting officer Roderick Watson, who pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official after accepting payouts from Walter Barnes (Vistant) and Darryl Britt (Apprio) in a massive, years-long scheme involving government contracts and shell companies.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence of institutional rot, former President Obama still insisted USAID’s “work has mattered and will matter for generations to come,” calling its shutdown “a travesty.” Obama lamented the loss of USAID as a blow to “some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.”

Bush, meanwhile, framed the agency’s demise as a threat to global goodwill, referencing his administration’s AIDS relief efforts in Africa:

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work – and that is your good heart.”

But critics argue that good intentions don’t justify decades of foreign handouts, zero accountability, and countless absurdities—including taxpayer-funded transgender programming in South America and diversity seminars for Irish theatre companies.

The Trump administration has made it clear: foreign aid must serve American interests first, not bankroll woke ideology or enrich corrupt bureaucrats and shady contractors.

The “America First” foreign assistance agency, set to be unveiled later this week, will reportedly focus on results-driven diplomacy, strict anti-fraud measures, and constitutional alignment with U.S. priorities—a sharp departure from USAID’s bloated and ideologically leftist legacy.

For now, the era of USAID is over. And as a fitting epitaph, the agency’s final public image was that of two globalist ex-presidents and a millionaire activist poet mourning a failed institution—rather than apologizing for the corruption it enabled.