Obama says U.S. lacks leadership on COVID-19 pandemic

Former U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the federal government's coronavirus response on Saturday during a virtual commencement address delivered to historically black colleges and universities, saying that the crisis has revealed some leaders to be empty suits and that a lot of the people in positions of power aren't even pretending to be in charge anymore.

"More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing," Obama said, adding "A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge."

Obama previously criticized the Trump administration last week, when he called its COVID-19 response "an absolute chaotic disaster" during a private call with supporters who formerly worked for him, local media reported.