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DHS Secretary: Giuliani's Obama comments "not helpful"

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson weighs in on former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani's controversial comments
Jeh Johnson: Giuliani's comments "unfortunate" 00:51

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's comments on President Obama's patriotism are "not helpful" and "unfortunate."

Speaking at an event in New York last week, Giuliani reportedly said, "I do not believe that the president loves America." He has defended those comments, saying that allegations of racism stemmed from people not understanding what he said.

Schieffer's take: The fallout from Rudy Giuliani's slam of Obama 04:58

"I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people," Giuliani said to the Times in an interview Thursday.

In an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, Johnson - who was hired by Giuliani as a federal prosecutor in New York City 26 years ago and still sees him with some frequency - expressed his disappointment.

"I know him well and I respect Mayor Giuliani a lot for the leadership and the visibility he had right after 9/11. It's an example for how those of us in government should respond to a crisis," Johnson said. "I think his latest comments are not helpful and are unfortunate."

In a separate interview, one of Mr. Obama's former longtime political adviser, David Axelrod, weighed on why Mr. Obama's beliefs come under question so frequently.

"I always believe that the last president kind of sets the terms of the next election and the last president was a very Manichean kind of guy, black and white, saw the world in those terms. America wanted someone who saw the grey, who saw the nuances, who understood the complexities of the world, and who made decisions...about the long-term, and not just the next step, and that is what they got in Barack Obama," Axelrod said. "I don't know why there is confusion. I think that there is nuance and there is an ability to see grey which is really important in the world in which we live."

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