President Barack Obama’s former official White House photographer took to Instagram in the tumultuous first weeks of President Donald Trump’s administration to share some pointedly topical images from Obama’s time in office.
As news broke Monday that Trump and Abe held an impromptu strategy session in full view of Mar-a-Lago club members to address breaking news on Saturday that North Korea had test-fired a ballistic missile, Pete Souza posted a photograph of Obama having a sensitive discussion in considerably different circumstances.
“When we were on the road, national security discussions and head of state phone calls were conducted in a private, secure location set up onsite,” he wrote on Instagram. “Everyone had to leave their Blackberry outside the area.”
Trump and Abe, on the other hand, read official documents by the light of aides’ cell phones, according to a report by CNN.
Souza, who also served as official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan, has posted photographs in the past few weeks highlighting everything from Obama’s taste in interior design — as Trump prepared to redecorate the Oval Office — to the former president’s refugee policy.
As Trump contended in January with the chaotic rollout of his executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries, Souza posted images of Obama meeting with young refugees and their advocates.
“Merrick Garland. Just saying,” Souza posted in January, as Trump announced his nomination of federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court vacancy after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.
Senate Republicans refused to consider Merrick Garland, Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, and argued that the next president should be allowed to fill Scalia’s seat.
Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Souza posted a photograph the same day of Obama’s meeting with Abe in December 2016 after visiting Pearl Harbor.
“Allies,” Souza captioned one photograph of Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hours after Trump touted his election victory in a joint press conference with the Canadian leader.
