Barack Obama recently appeared to call out current US President Donald Trump for using the Department of Justice (DOJ) to target his critics. The remarks come after former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in April over a post he made on Instagram. The DOJ has alleged the post was a threat to Trump.
Barack Obama comments on DOJ targeting critics
Barack Obama recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During his interview, he seemingly criticized Donald Trump for employing the DOJ to target his critics.
Obama suggested that the Attorney General shouldn’t be ordered to prosecute just anyone and said, “The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the Attorney General to go around prosecuting whoever the President wants prosecuted. You can’t have a situation where whoever is in charge starts using that to go after their political enemies. Or reward their friends.”
Additionally, he noted, “The idea is that the Attorney General is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the president’s consigliere.” Obama conveyed that the DOJ should be “independent” and should make “judgments about specific cases and prosecutions” on its own. Moreover, he said he believes that the United States wouldn’t be able to handle the “politicization of the justice system.”
Obama’s remarks appeared to refer to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. In April, Comey was charged with making a post that allegedly threatened Trump. In the post, Comey showed an image of an assortment of seashells arranged to read as “86 47.” The intent of the numbers has been interpreted as a desire to “86,” or throw out, Trump as the 47th President.
In a statement, White House representative Abigail Jackson told USA Today, “President Trump has restored integrity to the Department of Justice that Obama and Biden broke.” She also referred to Obama as “the king of weaponization.”
Originally reported by Ishita Verma on Mandatory.
