Bono tells Joe Rogan US global aid cuts have led to 300,000 deaths and reveals conversations with Marco Rubio
When Mr Trump took office earlier this year, DOGE, led by Mr Musk, was set up to cut wasteful spending in the US government.
The Trump administration has moved to cut funding to government foreign aid agency USAID and other global initiatives, including the United States President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), which has saved more than 25 million lives since it was established in 2003.
During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Bono told host Joe Rogan of how the world's relationship with the US seems to be changing, and revealed he is in contact with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
'I think America's more vulnerable now than it's ever been. It feels like America's fallen out of love with the rest of the world. I don't think the world wants to fall out of love with America,' he said
He then cited a report estimating 300,000 people have already died as a result of cuts made to USAID funding and said food intended for foreign aid is being left to rot because the workers who had access to it have been fired.
"There's food rotting in boats, in warehouses. There is - this will f**k you off - you will not be happy, no American will, but there is, I think it's 50,000 tonnes of food that are stored in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai and - wait for it - Houston, Texas.
"And that is rotting rather than going to Gaza, rather than going to Sudan, because the people who know the codes for the warehouse are fired, they're gone. What is that? That's not America, is it?"
Mr Rogan agreed there "have been organisations that do tremendous good all throughout the world" but added there was "a money laundering operation" with no oversight that saw billions or trillions of dollars of US public money go missing.
The levels of waste, abuse and fraud in the US government claimed by Mr Trump and Mr Musk have been disputed by fact checkers in the American and international media.
Mr Musk has responded to the claims made by Bono in a post on his social media platform X: 'He's such a liar/idiot. Zero people have died!' he wrote.
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During his conversation with Mr Rogan, Bono said a Christian aid organisation working with malnourished children is being forced to 'choose which child to pull off the IVs' because of funding cuts.
"It just seems to me like a kind of, I don't know if evil is a strong word, too strong a word, but what we know about pure evil is it rejoices in the deaths, the squandering of human life, particularly children's.
"It actually rejoices in it and whether it's incompetence, whether it's unintended consequences, it's not too late for people.'
Bono said he is contact with Mr Rubio, who does not agree people are dying as a result of cuts to funding.
"I have conversations with Marco Rubio. He's convinced people aren't dying yet. I don't know who's telling him, or not telling him, rather. But his instincts are correct.'
He said Mr Rubio used to wear an armband for the One Campaign, the organisation co-founded by Bono in 2004 for providing aid in Africa.
"Americans, no matter what political colour, you seem them, just the size, they just grow in stature when they know they're being useful.'
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