Former President Obama said the federal indictment of former President Trump is “less than ideal” but shows “nobody’s above the law.”
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that will air Thursday, Obama said the indictment does not send the best message internationally because of signs that suggest democratic norms are being rolled back in the U.S. and throughout the world.
“It’s less than ideal,” Obama said. “But the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors does uphold the basic notion that nobody’s above the law, and the allegations will now be sorted out through a court process.”
Trump has been charged with 37 counts related to the classified and sensitive documents he kept at his Mar-a-Lago property after he left the White House. The former president and his allies have attacked the prosecution as politically motivated, arguing the Department of Justice and FBI are being weaponized.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigation into Trump, defended the department and the FBI for their work after the indictment was unsealed earlier this month, saying they conducted the probe according to “the highest ethical standards.”
Obama said he is more concerned about democracy being threatened by efforts to “silence critics through changes in the legislative process” and “intimidate the press” than about Trump’s actions in this case. He said these efforts are most prominent in the GOP but not exclusive to only one party.
“Having been president of the United States, you need a president who takes the oath of office seriously,” Obama said. “You need a president who believes not just in the letter but in the spirit of democracy.”