In a joint Friday press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Obama responded to scathing remarks from London Mayor Boris Johnson, who accused him of removing a Winston Churchill bust from the Oval Office because he’s “part-Kenyan.”
Asked about Johnson’s remarks, Obama said there is a bust of Churchill in the White House residence, just outside of his second floor private office, that he sees every single day, but said he had another honorary statue in mind for the Oval.
“I thought…as the first African-American President, it might be appropriate to have a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King in my office, to remind me of all the hard work of a lot of people, who would somehow allow me to have the privilege of holding this office,” he said.
Johnson had accused Obama Thursday of being hostile to British interests, demonstrated by his removing a Churchill bust from the White House when he entered office, a story that has been debunked.
