WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump鈥檚 handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an 鈥渁bsolute chaotic disaster鈥� during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo 太子探花.
Obama also reacted to the Justice Department dropping its criminal case against Trump鈥檚 first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying he worried that the 鈥渂asic understanding of rule of law is at risk.鈥�
More than 78,400 people with COVID-19 have died in the United States and more than 1.3 million people have tested positive, according to the latest estimates from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Obama鈥檚 comments came during a Friday call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who served in his administration. Obama urged his supporters to back his former vice president, Joe Biden, who is trying to unseat Trump in the Nov. 3 election.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy 鈥� that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we鈥檙e seeing that internationally as well. It鈥檚 part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,鈥� Obama said, according to Yahoo 太子探花.
鈥淚t would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset 鈥� of 鈥榳hat鈥檚 in it for me鈥� and 鈥榯o heck with everybody else鈥� 鈥� when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” he said.
Trump has consistently defended and boasted of his response to the virus, saying that travel restrictions from China and Europe as well as social distancing guidelines have prevented far greater damage. 鈥淚 think we saved millions of lives,鈥� he said earlier this week.
Trump has criticized the Obama administration in relation to his own administration鈥檚 response to the outbreak. Yet Trump鈥檚 contention that his administration inherited 鈥渁 broken system and a broken test鈥� from Obama鈥檚 is false; the novel coronavirus did not exist until late last year. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention struggled to develop its own test in January and then discovered problems in its kits in February.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not mention Obama directly in her response to his remarks.
鈥淧resident Trump鈥檚 coronavirus response has been unprecedented and saved American lives,” she said. 鈥淲hile Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China.”
She added: 鈥淲hile Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country.”
Obama has generally kept a low profile on current political events, even when Trump would disparage him or his administration on Twitter. But Friday’s call indicates that he’ll be playing an active role in the coming election. He told supporters that he would be 鈥渟pending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden.”
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