Former president Barack Obama is giving his two cents on Donald Trump's indictment.
While sitting down with CNN's International Anchor Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, June 22, the 44th commander-in-chief was asked about the charges brought against his successor earlier this month — and he did not mince words.
"It’s less than ideal,” Obama said of Trump's alleged crimes. "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.”
While discussing democratic values, the left-wing leader admitted the businessman's attempt to “silence critics through changes in the legislative process” or “intimidate the press" may be even more concerning than his legal woes.
“Having been president of the United States, you need a president who takes the oath of office seriously,” he explained. “You need a president who believes not just in the letter but in the spirit of democracy.”
While Obama went on to admit that he feels our systems in the United States can be problematic, he still has hope justice will prevail. “I do believe that democracy will win if we fight for it,” the former Senator noted. “Our existing democratic institutions are creaky, and we’re going to have to reform them."
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
Amanpour also questioned the former leader of the free world about the ability of a president to be able to meet with dictators or other anti-democratic leaders.
“Look, it’s complicated,” Obama said. “The president of the United States has a lot of equities. And when I was president, I would deal with figures in some cases who were allies, who, you know, if you pressed me in private, do they run their governments and their political parties in ways that I would say are ideally democratic? I’d have to say no.”
CNN conducted the interview with Obama.
