Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday fired back at White House senior adviser Jared Kushner for a quote attributed to Kushner that Black Americans have to "want to be successful" for President Donald Trump's policies to work for them.
Kushner "says Black folks have to want to be successful," Obama said during a rally for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Orlando, The Hill reported. "Who are these folks? What history books do they read? Who do they talk to?"
Kushner, who is President Donald Trump's son-in-law, made the comments Monday on "Fox & Friends," saying, "President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful."
Kushner came under fire immediately from the left, but was defended by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany who said "internet trolls" took Kushner's words out of context and were trying to distract from Trump's "undeniable record of accomplishment" for Black people.
Trump himself has repeatedly said he has done more for Black Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln, citing among other things, decreased Black unemployment.
Obama hit that, too, on Tuesday, saying, "He loves to talk about Black unemployment. Unemployment was really high when I came in and we brought that unemployment low and it kept on going low and he wants to take credit for it."
In response to Obama's comments, White House assistant press secretary Jalen Drummond told The Hill, "Not only is the former president taking Senior Advisor Jared Kushner out of context, he’s trying to take credit for President Trump’s undeniable record of accomplishments for the Black community. President Trump is the one who has actually delivered for Black Americans with record-low unemployment, criminal justice reform, Opportunity Zones, access to capital, and historic funding for HBCUs unlike Democrats who are all talk, no action."
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