Former White House Staffer Thinks Obama Bringing Up Indictments Close To Trump Is ‘Incendiary’ Rhetoric

A conservative contributor to CNN suggested that former president Barack Obama is going too far when he points out the fact that some members of President Donald Trump’s White House are facing indictments.

Marc Short, who, according to reporting from Politico, was a former legislative affairs director under Trump, made the comments on a CNN program Monday morning. The subject of CNN’s segment was focused on incendiary rhetoric from Trump. While much discussion time was given up to the current president’s comments regarding immigration in the run-up to the midterm elections this Tuesday, some attention was also fixed on the fact that Trump recently drew attention to Obama’s middle name, which is “Hussein.”

Short justified the president’s rhetoric, and pointed out that mentioning Obama’s middle name was meant to be cheeky.

“I think we know what he was doing, I think he’s part entertaining the crowd, he partially is reminding people his name is Hussein,” Short said.

Short went on to say that Obama himself was using rhetoric that fanned the flames of hatred.

Co-host Alisyn Camerota asked for an example, according to reporting from Media Matters. “And what incendiary, toxic language is Barack Obama using?” she requested from Short.

“He’s talking about the rationale — so many people in the Trump administration having indictments as never before,” Short said.

CNN commentator on Trump: "I think he's part entertaining the crowd, he part is reminding people his name is Hussein … It's not as if Barack Obama is victimless here" https://t.co/pXqbRUDzed pic.twitter.com/vKRkMpmThq

— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 5, 2018

“That’s true,” Camerota pointed out.

Obama has, in fact, made statements against Trump’s White House — and other Republicans in Washington D.C. — during campaign rallies across the country, according to reporting from the Hill. “They have gone to Washington and just plundered away. In Washington, they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team,” he said to a crowd in Milwaukee last week. “Nobody in my administration got indicted.”

Several of Trump’s former campaign staff have received indictments, or have pleaded guilty in an ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was also forced to resign from the administration in the early months of Trump’s tenure, and has made a plea deal with Mueller as well.

Many have criticized Trump for his rhetoric, which includes controversial statements against undocumented immigrants. A recent ad produced by his campaign, for example, depicted a cop-killing undocumented immigrant which the Trump campaign ad insinuated was allowed back into the country due to lax Democratic policies.

That individual, Luis Bracamontes, came back across the border after conservative Sheriff Joe Arpaio — a strong Trump supporter — released him from custody. Bracamontes returned to the U.S. under the administration of former Republican president George W. Bush, previous reporting from the Inquisitr explained.