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- Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “an absolutely chaotic disaster,” according to an audio recording obtained by Yahoo News.
- The former president made his remarks on a private conference call with 3,000 former members of his administration while encouraging them to work for Joe Biden.
- Obama also strongly criticized the Justice Department’s decision to drop criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
- White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press conference Saturday that Trump’s response “was unprecedented” and “saved American lives.”
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, describing it as “an absolutely chaotic disaster” during a private conference call with former members of his administration.
The comments were made during a phone call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association on Friday, May 7, in which the former president encouraged his former staff members to work for Joe Biden, who is trying to impeach Trump in the next elections.
Their news was first reported by Yahoo News, which obtained an audio recording of the call. They have been confirmed to CNN by three former Obama administration officials who were on the call.
“What we are fighting against is against these long-term trends where being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as enemies has become a stronger drive in American life. And, by the way, We are seeing that also internationally. It is part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and irregular, “Obama said, according to CNN.
“It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolutely chaotic mess when that mindset – of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to screw everyone else’ – when that mindset is operational in our government,” he added. .
Obama, who formally endorsed Biden last month, also said: “So, by the way, I am going to spend as much time as necessary and campaign for Joe Biden as much as possible.”
In the call, Obama also strongly criticized the Justice Department’s decision to drop criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 as part of Russia’s investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. The sudden reversal, which was announced the same day as Obama’s call, was praised by Trump and Flynn’s allies.
According to CNN, Obama said in the call that abandoning the criminal case against Flynn suggests that “the rule of law was at risk” in the country.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press conference Saturday that Trump’s response “was unprecedented” and “saved American lives.” She did not mention Obama directly in her response.
As of this writing, more than 77,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. It has more than 1.3 million confirmed cases, according to Worldometer.
