Obama tells Colbert what he worries about in today's politics

Politics Obama tells Colbert he worries about "politicization of the criminal justice system" By Caroline Linton Caroline Linton Associate Managing Editor, Politics Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork. Read Full Bio Caroline Linton May 6, 2026 / 9:48 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Former President Barack Obama made some pointed remarks about the state of American governance under President Trump in an interview with Stephen Colbert that aired Tuesday night. Obama raised concerns about the expansion of executive branch powers and the use of the Justice Department for political ends, though he didn't mention Mr. Trump by name."We can survive a lot — bad policy, funky elections, there's a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome," Obama said on "The Late Show with Stephen 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."When Colbert asked about the "need to restrict executive powers" and "what powers do you believe the president should not have," Obama said "there are a couple that I followed even though they weren't law. I want us — we're going to have to do some basic work to return to this basic norm, and now we probably have to codify it." "The White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants to prosecute," Obama said. "The norm is — the idea is that the attorney general is the people's lawyer. It's not the president's consiglieri." Obama said the Justice Department needs to be "independent in making judgments about specific cases and prosecutions."  Under the current administration, the Justice Department has attempted to prosec...