Washington Free Beacon Former president Barack Obama has a new top staffer at his foundation—a far-left activist who was ousted from the Minneapolis City Council for supporting an initiative to defund police.
On Monday, former Minneapolis council member Phillipe Cunningham thanked Obama after starting a “new role at the Obama Foundation as the deputy director – U.S. lead of global leadership programs.” The move comes just months after voters ousted Cunningham, who backed a failed measure to defund city police, from the Minneapolis City Council in November. Cunningham in June 2020 also spoke at a defund-the-police rally, where the activist and nine other council members pledged to “end policing as we know it.” Cunningham’s opponent, LaTrisha Vetaw, said that pledge made her feel “silenced” and called public safety “the only issue” in the race.
Obama’s decision to ignore voters in deep-blue Minneapolis and hire Cunningham for a top position contradicts the former president’s rhetoric on the defund-the-police movement. Obama in November 2020 said he would not defund police and criticized activists who use the phrase. But Obama appeared alongside Cunningham at a virtual town hall when the activist was openly calling to defund police—during that June 2020 event, Cunningham stressed the need to “completely transform our public safety system.”…
