Barack Obama’s national security adviser blasted the Trump administration as ‘racist to its core’ and said that electing Joe Biden as president was vital in order to ‘remove Donald Trump and consign those who supported him in the Senate to the trash heap of history.’
Susan Rice, who has been mentioned in recent weeks as a possible vice presidential candidate, also accused Trump of a ‘gross abuse of power’ and ‘putting his personal interest over national security’ following revelations by John Bolton.
Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser before he was fired in September of last year, claims in his new book that the president asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to buy American farm products in order to boost his re-election chances.
‘This has been Donald Trump’s M.O.,’ Rice told MSNBC on Friday.
Susan Rice (left), who served as former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, tore into President Trump (right), calling his administration ‘racist to the core’
‘He puts his personal, political interest above our national security and our national interest.
‘If there were ever a gross abuse of power this is it, and it is laid bare for the voters to see.
‘He is willing to sacrifice our sovereignty and our democracy for his own political advantage.’
Trump on Thursday dismissed Bolton’s book as ‘pure fiction’ and said that his former aide is ‘trying to get even’ with the president for dismissing him.
The Trump administration has gone to court to try to stop publication of Bolton’s book, though legal experts say this is unlikely to succeed.
Rice said Trump’s supporters in the Senate like Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (above) belong in the ‘trash heap of history’
When asked to comment about Rice’s remarks, a White House spokesperson defended Trump’s record on race, telling DailyMail.com: ‘These comments by the former national security advisor are disgusting and she should be ashamed.
‘Donald Trump’s record as a private citizen and as president has been one of fighting for inclusion and advocating for the equal treatment of all.
‘Anyone who suggests otherwise is only seeking to sow division and ignore the President’s work for underserved communities, including during his time in office with groundbreaking criminal justice reform, the creation of Opportunity Zones, building the most inclusive economy in American history, and prioritizing our Nation’s HBCUs.’
Rice was asked to comment about the recent resignation of Mary Elizabeth Taylor.
Taylor, 30, is the youngest assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in history and the first black woman to serve in that post.
She submitted her resignation on Thursday in protest of Trump’s handling of the widespread unrest following the police-involved death of George Floyd.
In announcing her decision to quit, Taylor said that the president’s actions ‘cut sharply against my core values and convictions.’
When asked about Taylor’s departure, Rice said: ‘I’d say better late than never.’
But Rice also wondered how Taylor could continue to ‘serve an administration which has been racist to its core for the last three-and-a-half years.’
She mentioned Trump’s ‘comparing the peaceful protesters at Charlottesville to white supremacists, calling white supremacists very fine people, all the way through recent weeks when the president has disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement.’
Rice said: ‘It’s been an administration whose record on race is just disgraceful.’
In August 2017, Trump angered many when he said there were ‘very fine people on both sides’ of protests that turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia, where far-rightists and white supremacists clashed with supporters of civil rights groups and anti-facist organizations.
One woman was killed when a suspected white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of protesters. Dozens were injured.
Mary Elizabeth Taylor on Thursday resigned from her senior State Department role in protest of the administration’s actions in handling the unrest after the police-involved death of George Floyd. Rice said of Taylor’s resignation: ‘I’d say better late than never’
‘So while I respect the fact that belatedly this assistant secretary, Miss Taylor, has recognized how unconscionable that is, and decided she can no longer serve, what we’ve seen in recent days is not that different frankly than what we’ve seen over the course of the last three-and-a-half years,’ Rice said.
Rice also blasted Trump for ‘disgraceful, despicable lies’ – namely the president’s claim that the Obama administration did not try to implement police reforms.
‘This is just one more in a series of disgraceful lies,’ Rice said.
‘The record of the Obama-Biden administration on police and criminal justice reform is very well known.’
Rice said that the Obama administration limited the transfer of military equipment to police and investigated police departments with histories of racism and brutality.
‘The Trump administration is very well aware of all of those reforms because they came in and systematically undid them from the very beginning of the administration, so to claim that the Obama-Biden administration did nothing is a bald-faced lie,’ Rice said.
The former national security adviser added that Trump is now ‘scrambling in a very superficial, half-hearted, insufficient way to try to get on the right side of this issue.’
Rice also commented on the claims made by Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton (seen above in Nashville in February)
Trump pleaded in Osaka with China’s President Xi Jinping to buy U.S. agriculture products, describing the pitch in electoral terms, Bolton writes
After the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25, the president on Tuesday unveiled his police reform executive order in the Rose Garden.
The executive order includes setting up a register of bad actor cops.
The president’s plan will ban police from using chokeholds except for in instances when their lives are at risk and will set up a database where police departments track officers who have been accused of using excessive force.
President Trump said during his remarks – where he did not once mention George Floyd or relations between black people and police – that the plan will increase ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ while still allowing police officers to do their jobs and protect their communities.
He also claimed the measures are aimed at weeding out the ‘tiny’ amount of bad cops, claiming there is a very small percentage of bad apple offices.
‘When you remove the police, you hurt those who have the least the most. Nobody needs a strong, trustworthy police more than those who live in distressed areas,’ Trump asserted.
‘Nobody is more opposed to the small number of bad police officers – and you have them. They’re very tiny. I use the word tiny, it’s a very small percentage – but you have them,’ he continued.
‘But nobody wants to get rid of them more than the overwhelming number of really good and great police officers,’ Trump said.