Obama blasts Trump for not being considered a 'serious guy' in his home state of New York

WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama knocked former President Donald Trump in an interview for not being considered a “serious guy” in Trump's home state of New York.

Obama made the remarks in an episode of the “SmartLess” podcast, recorded in March, hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. Obama gave the interview alongside President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton. The full podcast was released on Monday.

“You watch Trump’s campaign. You watch his career… I mean, he comes from New York. There’s nobody in New York who does business with him or lend him money. He’s not considered a serious guy here,” he added.

Obama also criticized Republicans, saying that he expected more members of the GOP to speak out against Trump's behaviors.

“I have been surprised that there haven’t been guardrails inside the Republican Party. Trump didn’t surprise me,” Obama said.

Obama has been one of Trump's sharpest critics, and has previously argued the 45th president is a threat to democracy.

“I was surprised he was elected, but I wasn’t surprised in terms of his behavior," Obama said. "I did expect…that there would be some folks in the Republican Party who would say, no, you can’t go that far. You can’t start praising Putin and saying that his intelligence is better than the U.S. intelligence agencies,” he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Obama blasts Trump for not being a serious guy in New York