US midterm election: Barack Obama attacks Donald Trump over Iran war, tariffs and immigration crackdown

Former US President Barack Obama launched a sweeping attack on President Donald Trump at a rally in Cleveland Ohio blaming his administrationrsquos war with Iran tariffs and immigration crackdown for rising costs and calling the November 3 midterm elections ldquothe circuit breaker in the systemrdquoObama spoke on Saturday at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in support of Democrat Amy Acton who is running for Ohio governor and former Senator Sherrod Brown the Democratic candidate for the US Senate Brown introduced himldquoThis administrationrsquos actions are directly responsible for rising costsrdquo Obama said adding that the President ldquodecided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for and nobody voted forrdquoTurning to the Iran war Obama said ldquoIran didnrsquot have nuclear weapons because I put a deal in place that everybody acknowledged kept them from getting nukes and I didnrsquot have to fire a missile to do it I just had to engage in diplomacyrdquoSeven months on he said ldquoOur allies and our bases have been attacked Americans have been killed hundreds of Americans have been wounded we have run down our stock of missiles and Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz where oil goes through to the world marketrdquoldquoThis is the reason why the price of oil is uprdquo he said ldquoThis is the reason the price of diesel is uprdquo The Strait of Hormuz is also a key route for crude oil shipments to Asian importers including IndiaOn trade Obama said Trump ldquoloves tariffsrdquo and had been warned that ldquoconsumers pay the tabrdquo ldquoIn fact tariffs helped contribute to rising pricesrdquo he saidldquoAnd the big trade war hersquos starting now is with that wellknown evil empire Canadardquo he said to laughter ldquoThese are the people who gave us maple syrup and Martin ShortrdquoOn immigration Obama said he believed the border must be ldquoorderly and secure and that people who want to come here do so lawfullyrdquo He recalled being criticised by Democratic allies for tightening enforcement when he was PresidentldquoBut I donrsquot recall anybody campaigning on sending masked agents running through our streetsrdquo he said ldquoI donrsquot recall anybody talking about lawabiding citizens being arrested detained or shotrdquoHe mocked Trumprsquos White House renovations ldquoHe should be on HGTV The guyrsquos building a ballroom thatrsquos bigger than the White Houserdquo Obama said adding ldquotherersquos gold everywhererdquoObama accused Trump of using the office for personal gain citing a pardon granted to a Venezuelan billionaire ldquoWe have never seen a President Itrsquos just straightup grifter on your dimerdquo he said ldquoFrom meme coins to taxpayer funded contracts for his kidsrsquo companiesrdquoldquoNot a single Republican in Congress has done anything to stop himrdquo he said naming Ohio Senator Jon Husted Brownrsquos Republican opponentldquoThis election is our last best chance to at least rein in some of the foolishness of this administration Itrsquos the circuit breaker in the system We need to flip that circuit breakerrdquo Obama saidObama also criticised Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over his campaign ad on ActonObama later travelled to Detroit to campaign for Democratic candidates in MichiganThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever