Former President Barack Obama used one of the final episodes of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to issue pointed warnings about executive overreach, calling on future administrations to protect the independence of the Justice Department and the political neutrality of the U.S. military.
The nearly 30-minute interview was pre-taped at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which is set to open next month. Mr. Obama did not mention President Trump by name, but his remarks left little ambiguity about their target.
“We can survive a lot — bad policy, funky elections, there’s a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome,” Mr. Obama told Mr. Colbert. “We can’t overcome the politicization of our justice system, the awesome power of the state. You can’t have a situation in which whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends.”
Mr. Obama also reflected on his own relationship with former Attorney General Eric Holder to illustrate the limits he believes should govern the White House’s dealings with the Justice Department.
“I would consult with Eric Holder, my attorney general, all the time around broad policy issues,” he said. “But that’s different than, ’Who do you charge? What case do you bring?’”
He reserved equally sharp language for what he described as the militarization of presidential loyalty. “Don’t politicize our military,” Mr. Obama said. “As president, you are commander-in-chief. You are responsible for directing our military. There had been a whole series of norms that were in place to ensure that you weren’t trying to make that military loyal to you, as opposed to the Constitution and the people of the United States.”
Mr. Obama also appeared to take a veiled swipe at the president’s business interests, saying it was a “pretty obvious principle” that the president “should not have a bunch of side hustles” that foreign entities or companies could invest in.
Mr. Colbert’s “Late Show” is winding down, with its final episode set to air May 21. The Obama Presidential Center is set to open to the public on Juneteenth.
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