Bessent compares Obama library to 'Darth Vader's tomb' after ex-president criticized White House renovations

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent answered Barack Obama's mockery of the Trump White House makeover by eating lunch at a Cheesecake Factory in Washington, then taking a swipe at the former president's own architecture. At a Saturday rally in Ohio for Democratic candidates, Obama joked that Donald Trump should be on HGTV and that the building looked as if Saddam Hussein had opened a Cheesecake Factory. His target was the gold décor running through current projects: a ballroom, Rose Garden alterations and a helipad, according to Fox Business · The Guardian.

Bessent told Fox Business that he got his usual French dip cheeseburger. He said the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago resembles "Darth Vader's tomb," and suggested that the Martha's Vineyard crowd sample the restaurant.

Fox News Digital notes that some people have nicknamed the 225-foot granite tower the "Obamalisk." According to its earlier reporting, the center's projected cost has climbed from $350 million to above $1 billion, and taxpayers are also covering hundreds of millions of dollars for related public infrastructure outside the construction budget. Bessent has also lately fired back at Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, over a letter she sent the Treasury Department.

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