Former president Barack Obama taunted US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday (October 28) night for ignoring his accusations of corruption while mobilising what he called "a whole of government response" to a joke.

Obama, who was campaigning for Senator Jon Ossoff and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms ahead of next Tuesday's (November 3) election, said the administration had failed to dispute his accusations of corruption and focused instead on a restaurant joke.

The rally came near the end of Georgia's three-week early voting period, with Ossoff facing Republican Mike Collins in the Senate race and Bottoms taking on Republican Rick Jackson in the governor's contest. Trump held his own Georgia rally for Collins and Jackson last Saturday (October 24).

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 28, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. ATTENDEES WAVING PLACARDS UNDER BANNER, READING (English): "UNITED FOR GEORGIA"

2. FORMER US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, WALKING ON STAGE

3. OBAMA GREETING DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, AND SENATOR, JON OSSOFF, OBAMA GREETING SUPPORTERS

4. OBAMA SPEAKING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, SAYING:

“Does anybody really think that this guy is spending all that much time focused on the issues that matter to you? Because I don't know if you've noticed, he's very focused on home renovations. Should have a show on HGTV. The guy is building a ballroom that is bigger than the White House. He's paved over the Rose Garden, put a helicopter pad on the South Lawn, and there is gold everywhere. So much gold. Hey, he is spending time. This is true. This is a fact. I'm not making this up. He, the President of the United States, is spending time super gluing gold medallions to the mantle in the Oval Office. I am not making this up. He is literally doing arts and crafts while we are fighting a war and trying to deal with out-of-control prices.”

6. ATTENDEES WAVING PLACARDS

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, SAYING:

“I heard the president was not happy when I joked over the weekend that he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. And listen, first of all, let me get this on the record. I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory? I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. That was my jam for about a decade.”

8. ATTENDEES WAVING PLACARDS

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, SAYING:

“But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day. They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices. They did not argue with that. They did not deny tariffs were contributing to higher costs for families. They didn't say anything about that. I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption. They didn't say anything about that. The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments. He took great umbrage. He said I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House.”

10. ATTENDEES SITTING UNDER BANNER, READING (English) "UNITED FOR GEORGIA"

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, SAYING:

“They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke. The White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. This is the man who is in charge of the economy, the person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable, the guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation and reduce interest rates. They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory.”

12. SIGNS, READING (English) "UNITED FOR GEORGIA"

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) US SENATOR, JON OSSOFF, WHO IS SEEKING RE-ELECTION IN GEORGIA, SAYING:

“And while the crooked president and his crooked family rake in billions from all over the world, you pay more for everything. They doubled your insurance premiums and slashed Medicaid to cut taxes for the rich. They lied us into war and spent most of the last year covering up for the world's most famous pedophile. You saw it. Now, remember, they also promised peace. They promised peace. Instead, today marks eight months of a needless war that the useless draft-dodging commander-in-chief can't figure out how to end or how to win.”

14. SUPPORTERS UNDER BANNER, READING (English): "GEORGIA VOTES EARLY / TEXT VOTE TO 51015"

15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, SAYING:

“And if you saw the coverage in Perry, you know that Slick Rick had one job. He had one line to say, and he couldn't even get that right. It was something about bad, hold on, bad, I mean, one job, one line, and he even failed at that. So when Slick Rick says he wants to be Trump with the southern tone, just know that he already is. On every issue that matters to Georgia families right now, Slick Rick is putting himself and Trump ahead of what's best for our state.”

16. OBAMA GREETING SUPPORTERS