- Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell on Monday said that former PresidentBarack Obama "should have kept his mouth shut" rather than criticizingPresident Donald Trump 'scoronavirus response. - "I think it's a little bit classless, frankly, to critique an administration that comes after you," McConnell told Lara Trump.
- These comments followed Obama saying on a private conference call that
COVID-19 response has been "an absolute chaotic disaster." - Trump has since promoted an "
Obamagate " conspiracy theory on Twitter but refused to explain what he means. - Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Mitch McConnell on Monday excoriated former President Barack Obama for disparaging the United States' coronavirus response under President Donald Trump.
In a conversation with Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on a campaign live stream, the senate majority leader asserted that Obama "should have kept his mouth shut" instead of being critical of the steps taken so far to guide the nation through a pandemic that has infected at least 1.35 million Americans and caused at least 80,897 deaths.
"I think it's a little bit classless, frankly, to critique an administration that comes after you. You had your shot, you were there for eight years. I think the tradition that the Bush's set up — of not critiquing the president who comes after you — is a good tradition," McConnell said, according to CNN.
McConnell lashed out after Obama characterized the Trump administration's COVID-19 response as an "absolute chaotic disaster," based on an audio recording obtained by Yahoo News. These remarks were made during a private call with 3,000 former members of the Obama administration, with the country's 44th president encouraging them to work for ex-vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden.
Three former White House staffers who were on the conference call have confirmed to CNN that Obama was critical of the Trump administration's haphazard and lackluster actions to stem the virus's spread.
"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. It's part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty," Obama said, according to CNN.
The former president went on to say: "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 operationalized in our government."
McConnell also falsely blamed the Obama administration for not leaving the Trump administration with "any kind of game plan" for something like this. In fact, Obama administration officials prepared a comprehensive pandemic response playbook that the Trump administration ignored.
Obama also said the "rule of law is at risk" after the Department of Justice's recent decision to drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Trump, who frequently belittles his predecessor, was asked about some of his tweets on Sunday that appeared to accuse Obama of some type of conspiracy.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
"Obamagate. It's been going on for a long time. It's been going on from before I even got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened," he said, per CNN.
When asked about the conspiracy theory at a Monday press conference, Trump replied: "You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody."
The theory claims that Obama tried to undermine Trump's presidency by plotting an FBI investigation into Flynn. However, there is no public evidence to back up this claim.
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