Jesse Jackson Jr. Slams Obama, Biden For Turning Father's Memorial Into Attack On President Trump

Jesse Jackson Jr. publicly rebuked eulogies delivered by former presidents at his father’s memorial, saying the speakers had turned the occasion into partisan attacks and did not truly know his father.

“During the funeral for Reverend Jesse Jackson, former president Barack Obama delivered a speech in Chicago criticizing the Trump administration, without explicitly naming it”

Arras Maville

Jackson Jr. told attendees he had "listened for several hours to three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson," and repeatedly said the presidents "do not know Jesse Jackson," arguing his father’s work demanded a "consistent, prophetic voice" rather than partisan solutions.

Arras Maville

Other accounts similarly report Jackson Jr. saying the speakers "do not know Jesse Jackson" and that although they had met his father, "they didn't truly know him."

Barack Obama warned of a "new assault on our democratic institutions" and condemned a political climate of fear, bigotry and attacks on democratic institutions.

Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration's values, saying it does not share "any of the values that we have."

Fox News

Bill Clinton downplayed politics and "kept his eulogy largely apolitical."

Sources report these differences in how the three used their remarks at the public service.

Jackson Jr. had earlier asked that politics be kept out of the services and urged the events remain welcoming to all.

He nonetheless used a private memorial to challenge what he called partisan grandstanding.

Multiple outlets describe him publicly rebuking former Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton at a private memorial, saying the presidents 'do not know Jesse Jackson' and faulting them for injecting partisan politics into the service.

Reports place his remarks at a private memorial at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters and note he had asked attendees to keep services respectful and inclusive of the full political spectrum.

Coverage notes that the public and private services drew a wide range of political figures while President Trump did not attend.

Reports say the public Friday service at Chicago’s House of Hope featured Obama and Biden and drew figures like former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Independent Journal Review

Some outlets point out that former President Trump did not attend.

Some outlets explicitly note that reports of Jackson Jr.’s critique appeared in TMZ and the New York Post, underscoring how different outlets covered the rebuke.

The coverage uses both "President Trump" and "former President Trump," a contradiction among the sources.

Across accounts, the events were framed around Jesse Jackson Sr.'s legacy as a civil-rights leader who expanded political participation, even as his son emphasized that this legacy demanded prophetic advocacy for the dispossessed rather than party politics.

“The son of the late civil rights icon Rev”

Mandatory

Outlets describe Jackson Sr. as a figure who 'broadened political participation and helped shape the modern Democratic Party,' and report Jackson Jr.'s depiction of his father as 'often at odds with the political establishment—white or Black—and committed to speaking prophetically for the dispossessed without selling out to party politics.'

Mandatory