Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said former President Barack Obama had the power to bring the nation together but wound up increasing racism in part by the way he handled police shootings.

Santorum, a conservative political commentator for CNN, made the accusation during a heated “State of the Union” panel discussion Sunday about racism in the United States.

Karine Jean-Pierre, a senior adviser and national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org, a political action committee that raises money for progressive politicians, said it was “pretty horrific” to see voters sway toward Donald Trump’s campaign after electing the first African-American president.

“There was an uproar. You saw the Tea Party. You saw obstruction by Republicans time and time again,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is kind of problematic. It says a lot about this country, and Donald Trump tapped into it.”

Jean-Pierre, who worked on both of Obama’s presidential election campaigns and served in his administration, said it’s important to remember that Trump’s political career started in earnest by promoting birtherism, the false conspiracy theory that Obama wasn’t born in the United States and was therefore ineligible for the presidency. She also criticized Trump for saying “you also had some very fine people on both sides” after white supremacists and counter-protesters clashed in Charlottesville, Va.

Former President Barack Obama and former Sen. Rick Santorum. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos, AP (2), Jeff Roberson/AP)

Santorum, who was seated beside Jean-Pierre, appeared eager to speak after she said Trump “tapped into that racism” that’s been seen in the United States since 2008 — when Obama was elected.

“What’s being ignored here is the role that Barack Obama played in all this,” Santorum said. “You can’t just go from ‘well, we elected out first black president’ and ‘all of a sudden we get Donald Trump.’ There was something in between those two things.”

According to Santorum, “many, many, many people” saw Obama being racist himself and “doing more to exacerbate racism” in the United States.

“Every time there was a controversy with someone of color involved, he took the side, many times, against the police,” Santorum said. “He did it over and over and over again. President Obama was to many people out there someone who could’ve brought this country together.”

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Jean-Pierre expressed disbelief at what she was hearing and said that in those instances Obama was standing up for people who had been unjustifiably treated. She asked if Santorum was referring to the times Obama addressed the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012, but the panel’s time was running out so the conversation came to an abrupt end.

“This president could’ve [brought us] together. He didn’t,” Santorum said. “He divided us.”

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