In leaked call, Obama names Trump's COVID-19 handling 'chaotic disaster'
Even as former US President Barack Obama has refrained from commenting anything at this critical juncture, in a leaked web call on Friday (May 9) night, he allegedly called Donald Trump’s way of handling the ongoing situation of coronavirus pandemic an “absolute chaotic disaster.”
Even as former US President Barack Obama has refrained from commenting anything at this critical juncture, in a leaked web call on Friday (May 9) night, he allegedly called Donald Trump’s way of handling the ongoing situation of coronavirus pandemic an “absolute chaotic disaster.”
In the audio, first received by Yahoo News, Obama could be heard speaking to former members of his administration, urging them to join him in endorsing Joe Biden for the November presidential election.
“This election that’s coming up on every level is so important because what we’re going to be battling is not just a particular individual or a political party. What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others as an enemy – that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well,” Obama was quoted as saying by Yahoo News.
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“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anaemic and spotty. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset – of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ – when that mindset is operationalised in our government. That’s why, I, by the way, am going to be spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden,” he added.
On the call, Obama warned the US Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn, a former White House national security adviser who pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI in the Russia probe, as a “risk to the rule of law.”
“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed – about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn. And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic – not just institutional norms – but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places,” Obama reportedly said.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the United States (1.3 million) are the highest in the world with more than 77,000 deaths.