Presidential historian Jon Meacham said President Donald Trump is attempting to mislead people by ‘demonizing’ former President Barack Obama.
Meacham made his comments on Friday during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” They came after Trump had called for the House Judiciary Committee to have Obama testify about the origins of the Russia investigation.
Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., rejected Trump’s push for testimony from Obama.
But Meacham said he has never seen a president call for his predecessor to testify before Congress for an alleged scandal.
“The incumbent president has exacerbated some elemental human forces that most people have kept in check and, by and large, have been kept and managed in check for going on two and a half centuries now,” Meacham said.
“He just has rejected that civilized veneer, that civilized screen that separates us from the political state of nature. The last president to testify before Congress was Gerald Ford … about the pardon of President (Richard) Nixon. He did so voluntarily. Before that, I think I’m right about this, no one had gone to Congress since George Washington, who had gone once, hated it, and nobody ever went back.
“It’s grabbing at nothing and attempting to mislead just enough people by demonizing his predecessor that he can make hay out of that. It’s another blow against the role of fact in America.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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