Obama made the comments in an interview that aired on May 5 with Stephen Colbert, who hosts CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"The White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever," Obama said when asked about what powers he believes presidents should not have.

"The idea is that the attorney general is the people's lawyer. It's not the president's consigliere," he added. "Consigliere" is a term for an adviser or counselor to the leader of a criminal organization, such as a Mafia family.

Obama said at this point that principle "probably" needs to be codified, or committed to law by Congress.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to USA TODAY that "Barack Hussein Obama is the king of weaponization and documents declassified last year revealed he was present for key meetings that led to critical steps in the opening of the Russia Hoax investigation against President Trump."

"Conversely, President Trump has restored integrity to the Department of Justice that Obama and Biden broke," Jackson added.

In September, Trump posted a message on Truth Social to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, telling her the DOJ "can't delay any longer" in criminally prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

"JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!" Trump added in all caps.

Bondi quickly installed Lindsey Halligan – a lawyer picked by Trump despite having no prosecutorial experience – in a top federal prosecuting role in Virginia, where Halligan secured charges from grand juries against Comey and James. Both cases were dismissed after a federal judge ruled Halligan was unlawfully appointed.

The Justice Department under Bondi also investigated others disfavored by Trump, including Schiff, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and six members of Congress who urged members of the military not to obey potential illegal orders.

Trump fired Bondi in April, reportedly, in part, because of his frustration at the DOJ's lack of success prosecuting his perceived political enemies.

Since then, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal defense lawyer to Trump, has backed his office in securing new charges against Comey, which accuse the former FBI director of threatening to harm or kill Trump by posting an image in May 2025 depicting seashells arranged to say "86 47."

Some Trump supporters said the post was a threat because "86" is a slang term that means "to throw out" or "to get rid of," according to Merriam-Webster. Trump is the 47th US president.

Comey deleted the post and said in a new one that he "didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence." He said he took the post down because he opposes "violence of any kind."

Trump's White House has sometimes suggested that the DOJ was weaponized under former president Joe Biden's administration because Trump faced two federal criminal cases during that time, and that the current administration is reversing that course.

However, the cases against Trump were brought after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, in a role designed to establish greater-than-normal independence from DOJ leadership.

Garland also appointed special counsels to handle sensitive investigations into Biden and into his son, Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was ultimately prosecuted, but his father was not.