Former President Barack Obama appeared to take a thinly veiled shot at President Trump and his administration during a close-door speech in Boston last week, saying that his White House “didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us.”
Obama made the comment Friday while addressing attendees of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Strict rules were put in place prohibiting the sharing of images and video of the off-the-record speech.
But audio of the speech was leaked to Reason, and while Obama doesn’t mention his successor by name, he did raise the specter of scandal — something which the Trump administration has dealt with on a regular basis.
“We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us,” Obama said. “I know that seems like a low bar.”
He also said, “You didn’t hear about a lot of drama inside our White House.”
The comments come as the Trump administration is dealing with a security clearance controversy, which started when domestic abuse accusations against former staff secretary Rob Porter were made public.
The Trump West Wing has also long been beset by other debilitating controversies, including leaks and of course the lingering Russia investigation, looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
But Obama’s White House also was no stranger to controversy either.
For example, there were the multiple gaffes by Vice President Joe Biden, including telling an audience in Danville, Va., during the 2012 campaign that Mitt Romney’s policies as president will put them “back in chains.” There was also the controversy surrounding press secretary Robert Gibbs clashing with first lady Michelle Obama and adviser Valerie Jarrett.
And that says nothing of the other major controversies surrounding the Obama administration that didn’t take place strictly in the White House, including the scandal surrounding the 2012 Benghazi terror attack.
