Tag: Barack Obama

Trump Falsely Claims Obama ‘Never Even Tried’ to Address Police Misconduct

New York Times logoAs President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday encouraging changes to policing, he falsely accused his predecessor, President Barack Obama, of choosing not to tackle the issue. Here’s a fact-check.

WHAT WAS SAID
“President Obama and Vice President Biden never even tried to fix this during their eight-year period. The reason they didn’t try is because they had no idea how to do it. And it is a complex situation.”

False. The Obama administration tried to address police misconduct in numerous ways, and some of those efforts have been reversed or limited by the Trump administration.

“The assertion that the Trump administration has done more than the Obama administration is ridiculous,” said Barry Friedman, a law professor and director of the Policing Project at New York University School of Law. “The Obama administration has taken a number of critical steps in police reform.” Continue reading.

Twin Cities law enforcement briefed on possible Obama, Pence visits this week

The Secret Service is briefing local law enforcement about possible visits to the Twin Cities this week by former President Barack Obama and Vice President Mike Pence, FOX 9 has learned.

Obama would be attending Thursday’s memorial for George Floyd.

Pence would be visiting Friday. Continue reading.

Obama calls for police reforms, doesn’t address Trump

The Hill logoFormer President Obama on Wednesday called for police reforms but did not mention President Trump and largely steered clear of the polarizing politics that have wracked the nation following the death of George Floyd.

Speaking at a virtual town hall from his home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Obama outlined changes he said would reduce police violence toward racial minorities.

The former president said chokeholds should be outlawed and that officers should not be able to shoot at moving vehicles. He called on local police departments to establish clear use-of-force guidelines and said officers should have to intervene when another officer has become too rough with a suspect. Continue reading.

President Obama: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change

As millions of people across the country take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, many people have reached out asking how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change.

Ultimately, it’s going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times. But I believe there are some basic lessons to draw from past efforts that are worth remembering.

First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible, and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation — something that police in cities like Camden and Flint have commendably understood. Continue reading.

Former President Obama’s Statement on the Death of George Floyd

Below is a statement from President Obama on George Floyd’s death:

I want to share parts of the conversations I’ve had with friends over the past  couple of days about the footage of George Floyd dying face down on the street under the knee of a police officer in Minnesota.

The first is an email from a middle-aged African American businessman.

“Dude I gotta tell you the George Floyd incident in Minnesota hurt. I cried when I saw that video. It broke me down. The “keen on the neck” is a metaphor for how the system so cavalierly holds black folks down, ignoring the cries for help. People don’t care. Truly tragic.”

Another friend of mine used the powerful song that went viral from 12-year-old Keedron Bryant to describe the frustrations he was feeling. Continue reading “Former President Obama’s Statement on the Death of George Floyd”

White House portrait ceremony may be the latest casualty of the political divide

The traditional White House portrait unveiling may be skipped for the first time in decades amid bad blood between Trump and Obama.

WASHINGTON — It’s been a White House tradition for decades: A first-term president hosts a ceremony in the East Room for the unveiling of the official portrait of his immediate predecessor that will hang in the halls of the White House for posterity.

Republican presidents have done it for Democratic presidents, and vice versa — even when one of them ascended to the White House by defeating or sharply criticizing the other.

“We may have our differences politically,” President Barack Obama said when he hosted former President George W. Bush for his portrait unveiling in 2012, “but the presidency transcends those differences.” Continue reading.

Barr doesn’t expect Obama, Biden criminal investigations

The Hill logoAttorney General William Barr said Monday that he does not expect a criminal investigation of former President Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden to result from the probe undertaken by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

“Based on the information I have today, I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr told reporters at the Justice Department. “Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.”

Barr was asked about President Trump’s recent remarks encouraging investigations into Obama and other officials from the previous administration during a press conference on December’s Pensacola Naval Air Station shooting. The president has suggested Obama administration officials were involved in criminal wrongdoing in connection with the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference, a probe that dogged him during his first two years in office. Continue reading.

Obama criticizes nation’s leaders for bungled handling of coronavirus pandemic

Washington Post logoFormer president Barack Obama criticized the nation’s leaders for bungling their handling of the coronavirus pandemic Saturday, accusing them in twin commencement addresses of not “even pretending” to be in charge and asking the wrong questions.

The comments came in a speech to high school graduates broadcast by major television networks and a similar streamed speech for graduates of 74 historically black colleges and universities across the United States, which also included his first public comments on the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man shot when two white men attempted to stop him while he was jogging near his hometown of Brunswick, Ga.

Obama did not mention his successor, President Trump, by name. But the comments echoed criticism of the Trump administration that Obama leveled last month in a video endorsement of former vice president Joe Biden. Obama said then that the pandemic had shown that “having leaders who are informed and honest and seek to bring people together” matters. Continue reading.

What You Need To Know About The Flynn, Biden And ‘Unmasking’ Story

In the final days of the Obama administration, someone leaked a key nugget of information to The Washington Post about Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

Then, since and today, Trump and Republicans have argued that was an abuse of power and a breach of the law, one that, in their view, needlessly cost Flynn his reputation, his liberty and a fortune in legal fees.

That’s why, three very long years later, Trump and his supporters sought payback with evidence from that era they hope will cause political problems for a man who was in the thick of it — former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s likely opponent in the general election this year. Continue reading.

Ex-RNC Chair Torches McConnell’s Claim Obama ‘Should’ve Kept His Mouth Shut’

Michael Steele noted that Trump “has yet to keep ‘his mouth shut’” about Obama.

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele rebuked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday after McConnell labeled former President Barack Obama as “classless” for criticizing his successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

McConnell had declared Monday that Obama “should have kept his mouth shut” about President Donald Trump’s response to the health crisis. But Steele disagreed, tweeting that the former president is entitled to voice his view. He also noted that Trump has “yet to keep ‘his mouth shut’” about Obama.

The president has persistently attempted to blame Obama for testing failures and a shortage of medical supplies during the pandemic and has this week peddled a fringe theory accusing his predecessor of “the biggest political crime in American history” while declining to specify what that alleged crime would be. Continue reading.