Obama Criticizes Trump Response to Cheesecake Factory Joke

Former President Barack Obama used a Georgia campaign rally to criticize the Trump administration’s response to his joke about the White House renovations, saying officials had focused on the Cheesecake Factory quip rather than economic concerns. Speaking Wednesday, October 28, at an event for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, Obama said the White House and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had devoted attention to his comparison of the renovated White House to a Cheesecake Factory opened by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Obama described the response as a “whole of government” effort and said it was not directed at inflation. Obama argued that the Treasury secretary’s role should include addressing affordability, inflation and interest rates. He said Bessent had been asked to hold a press conference outside the restaurant. The White House held a press conference at a Washington Cheesecake Factory on Monday, where Bessent praised the food and criticized Obama’s joke, according to reports of the event. Obama called administration officials “not serious people” and said the public was paying for what he characterized as their lack of...