Former President Barack Obama, pictured at the March funeral for civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, is under fire for his agreement to participate in an event organized by a man with a notorious past. (Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP via Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz May 8, 2026 at 3:46pm
Former President Barack Obama is under fire for his decision to speak at an upcoming event in Napa Valley, California.
According to Politico, the former president will deliver remarks to an audience of CEOs brought together by Declan Kelly, former chairman and chief executive of the consulting firm Teneo, who resigned from that position after reportedly getting drunk and groping a number of women at a high-powered charity event in 2021.
“It’s disgusting to have a president who has championed women speak at an event hosted by someone with this type of track record of treating women,” a female former employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity, according to Politico.
Another anonymous former Teneo employee agreed.
“President Obama should not be in the business of rehabbing the reputation and accepting money from someone accused of groping multiple people at a charity event. Some red lines are not meant to be crossed,” the second former employee said, according to Politico.
According to a report at the time from the New York Post’s Page Six, the 2021 charity event was the VIP party that followed the Vax Live concert organized by the organization Global Citizen.
Vax Live billed itself as “a global broadcast special celebrating COVID-19 vaccines.” It was chaired by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, and featured messages from the now-deceased Pope Francis and then-President Joe Biden.
“One source told Page Six that Kelly was extremely drunk and acted inappropriately with as many as six women at the party in front of other guests,” the column reported.
Kelly resigned from Teneo less than two months later, according to a CNBC report.
“Since the event two months ago Mr. Kelly immediately committed to sobriety, is undertaking ongoing counselling from healthcare professionals, and has temporarily reduced his work responsibilities,” a representative of Kelly told The Wall Street Journal at the time.
Meanwhile, Kelly’s connections to powerful figures in the Democratic Party go beyond Obama.
From 2009 through 2011, Kelly served as special economic envoy to Northern Ireland under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Likewise, a co-founder of Teneo, the company Kelly led, was Doug Band, a one-time counselor to former President Bill Clinton who was credited in a 2020 Vanity Fair as having “virtually invented Clinton’s postpresidential life.”
Now, Kelly serves as founder, chairman, and CEO of the investment company Consello. Senior management at the company includes former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Consello organized the event where Obama will speak.
Politico’s Daniel Lippman first reported on Obama’s speaking gig in a post published Friday on the social media platform X:
SCOOP: Former President Obama is speaking next week at an event hosted by the firm run by consultant Declan Kelly, who faced a scandal in 2021 after the FT reported that he got drunk and engaged in “non-consensual touching of a number of women” at a party. https://t.co/TlvygEEirt pic.twitter.com/qADYLYP4fU
— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) May 8, 2026
Elsewhere on X, author and political commentator Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, called Obama’s speaking gig “sad,” though not because of Kelly’s 2021 groping scandal.
“Obama has been doing paid speaking gigs at corporate events, with no one tracking it,” Stoller wrote. “Here he talks to an audience of CEOs for the lobbying/pr firm Consello. He’s the former President and this is how he chooses to spend his time? He doesn’t need the money. Just sad.”
Obama has been doing paid speaking gigs at corporate events, with no one tracking it. Here he talks to an audience of CEOs for the lobbying/pr firm Consello.
He’s the former President and this is how he chooses to spend his time? He doesn’t need the money.
Just sad. https://t.co/VKGaen8Bza
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) May 8, 2026
Stoller’s claim that Obama “doesn’t need the money” may well be true, but it also might not take into account possible future legal troubles.
In July 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released documents that allegedly showed Obama at the center of what she called a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine President Donald Trump’s first administration by manufacturing intelligence that supported the since-debunked Russia collusion hoax.
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Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
