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Barack Obama reportedly said the “rule of law is at risk” in the United States, after the justice department said it would withdraw its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In comments that are likely to infuriate Donald Trump, Obama also called the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak “an absolute chaotic mess.”
Flynn, a retired general, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about talks with the Russian ambassador about electoral interference sanctions, which Obama imposed at the end of his presidency.
After being fired by Trump for lying to Vice President Mike Pence, Flynn cooperated with investigators before trying to withdraw his statement.
Trump publicly toyed with Flynn’s forgiveness, and his supporters mounted a fierce campaign in support of the general, who had not been sentenced, before the decision to withdraw the case was announced Thursday.
It drew strong criticism from Democrats and many of the mainstream media, faced by counterattacks from the White House.
On Friday, Yahoo News reported that it had obtained a recording of a web conversation between the former president and members of the Obama Alumni Association.
“I think the news for the past 24 hours has been minimized, about the fact that the justice department dropped the charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said.
“And the fact that there is no precedent anyone can find for someone who has been accused of perjury [in fact Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI] just going down without scotch. That’s the kind of thing you start to worry about the basics of, not just institutional norms, but our basic understanding of the rule of law.
“And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate quite quickly as we’ve seen elsewhere.”
The president has repeatedly blamed Obama for the FBI investigation of Russian electoral interference that expanded to include links between his campaign and Moscow. Last week, Trump retweeted a conspiracy theorist who claimed that Obama led the investigation.
On Thursday, Trump said at the White House: “What they did, what the Obama administration did, is unprecedented … and I hope that many people pay a high price because they are dishonest and corrupt people.” They are scum, human scum.
The President added: “[Flynn] he was attacked by the Obama administration, and he was attacked to try to bring down a president. “
After nearly two years of work, Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not establish a criminal conspiracy, but he did detail extensive links between Trump’s aides and the Russians and numerous cases of possible obstruction of justice by the President.
Trump claims Mueller’s exoneration. Mueller said he was not exonerating Trump.
Flynn’s guilty plea to lying to the FBI was one of Mueller’s biggest coups. In 2017 Trump admitted , writing on Twitter: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pleaded guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were legal. There was nothing to hide!
According to Yahoo News, Obama said in the web call that the case made him feel a “sense of urgency” about the November election, in which Trump will face Joe Biden, Obama’s vice president.
“Every time I campaign,” Obama said, “I’ve always said,” Oh, this is the most important election. “Especially when I was on the ballot, it always seems like the most important election.” In this case, I’m not on the ballot but I’m pretty much invested. We have to make this happen. “
According to reports, Obama said the election would be about fighting “long-term trends in which to be selfish, to be tribal, to be divided and to see others as enemies.” [have] become a stronger drive in American life. “
“It is part of the reason,” he said, apparently, “why the response to this global crisis. [the coronavirus outbreak] It has been so anemic and tainted. It would have been bad even with the best governments. It has been an absolutely chaotic mess when that “what’s in it for me” and “nagging everyone else” mentality, when that mentality is operational in our government.
“So, by the way, I’m going to spend as much time as necessary and campaign as much as I can for Joe Biden.”
As of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers, 1,283,762 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in the United States. USA, with 77,175 deaths. Encouraged by the White House, more than half of the 50 states seek to reopen their closed economies, despite warnings from public health experts that it is too early to do so without risking high death toll.
Obama has followed the precedent by not criticizing his successor in the Oval Office in public, but reports of his opinion on Trump are fairly regular. In January, for example, it was reported that he said Trump was a fascist.
Trump was at the White House on Saturday. He did not immediately respond to the Yahoo News report.
However, Attorney General William Barr may have spoken for the president earlier when asked how he thought history would see his decision to drop the Flynn case.
“Well the story is written by the winner,” he told CBS News. “So it largely depends on who is writing the story.”
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