Trump: What Obama said at John Lewis' funeral was 'absolutely terrible'
President Trump blasts former President Obama's 'totally inappropriate' remarks at Rep. John Lewis' funeral.
Former President Barack Obama’s eulogy for the late Congressman John Lewis was “terrible” and “totally inappropriate,” President Trump said in an exclusive interview with “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
In his remarks, Obama recalled Lewis' storied efforts as a leader of the civil rights movement while issuing a political call to action.
At one point, Obama referenced George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody, the Trump administration sending in federal agents to handle protesters and violent demonstrators, as well as challenges to mail-in voting during this “urgent” upcoming election.
“Today, we witness with our own eyes police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans,” Obama said last week. “George Wallace may be gone, but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators.”
Obama also said: “We may no longer have to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick.”
Host Brian Kilmeade said on Wednesday that “many were taken aback when President Obama used a eulogy for Congressman Lewis to really seem to make a campaign speech—one of which was pretty much going after you and clearly talking about politics and not much about Congressman Lewis.”
OBAMA, JOINED BY FELLOW PAST PRESIDENTS, EULOGIZES JOHN LEWIS
He went on to say that it made him think “who is having a harder time getting over the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton or President Obama?”
Kilmeade also asked Trump if he agrees that Obama’s eulogy seemed more like a campaign speech.
“I thought it was a terrible speech, it was an angry speech, it showed there’s anger there that people don't see,” Trump said in response. “He lost control and he's been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech.
“That speech was ridiculous,” Trump continued.
He went on to say that “We've redone 82 percent or something of the Obama things,” pointing to the environment as an example.
“Our air and water is cleaner now than it's ever been,” Trump said.
He added that Obama’s speech was “totally inappropriate” and “very bad.”
“He fought very hard, a lot of people don't realize that I think—and I said it the other day -- he fought just as hard or harder than Hillary so that Hillary won,” Trump said. “He was somebody-- I didn't know him, but he was somebody that wanted me not to win.”
Kilmeade then brought up the fact that Obama “mocked” him at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner a few years ago and said on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that “you will never become president and you became president.”
Kilmeade then asked, “Do you think to a degree he's not over that?”
“I was at the dinner -- a lot of people say I ran because of the dinner --that's absolutely not true,” Trump said in response. “Actually he joked, but he was supposed to be joking.
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“I actually thought he did a very good job at the dinner… I thought the speech the other day at the funeral was a terrible, terrible representation of what our country is all about,” he continued. “I thought it was absolutely terrible.”
Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
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