LiveUpdated
Sunday 17 May 2020 13:10
Former president Barack Obama has made a rare public attack on Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, warning the pandemic has shown that many high levels officials “aren’t even pretending to be in charge” as the US nears 90,000 virus deaths.
His criticism came just days after he referred to the Trump administration’s response to Covid-19 as “an absolute chaotic disaster” during a leaked conference call.
Meanwhile, Republican senator Mitt Romney has denounced Mr Trump’s firings of several inspector generals as a “threat to accountable democracy” after Democrats launched an investigation into the firing of the state department’s internal watchdog Steve Linick.
Please allow the live blog a moment to load…
Romney warns of ‘threat to democracy’ from Trump firings
Republican senator Mitt Romney has denounced Donald Trump’s firings of multiple inspector generals as a “threat to accountable democracy”.
“The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose,” Mr Romney wrote on Twitter.
“It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.”
His criticism came as Democrats launched an investigation on Saturday into the president’s dismissal of the State Department’s inspector general Steve Linick.
You can find more on that story below:
Barack Obama has made a public attack on the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis in an address to graduating college students.
The former president said the pandemic had highlighted a lack of leadership in the White House and accused officials of “not even pretending to be in charge”.
“More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing,” Mr Obama said.
“A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”
Our reporter, Andy Gregory, has the full story below:
Hello and welcome to The Independent‘s live coverage of the Trump administration and the US response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
