Hal Lambert, the chief executive of Point Bridge Capital and a prominent Trump supporter, appeared on CNN Monday and laid out what he called a coordinated political operation: Pope Leo XIV, former President Barack Obama, and Obama strategist David Axelrod working together to erode Republican support among Catholic voters ahead of the midterm elections. The allegation drew immediate pushback from the CNN panel, but Lambert refused to back down.
The exchange on "NewsNight with Abby Phillip" came against the backdrop of an escalating public feud between President Donald Trump and the new pope, a Chicago native who has drawn sharp criticism from the White House after weighing in on U.S. foreign policy. Lambert's claims, reported by the Daily Mail, amount to a theory that the Vatican is being used as a staging ground for Democratic political strategy, a charge with no documented evidence but one that reflects real anxiety on the right about the trajectory of the Trump-Vatican relationship.
Lambert wasted no time framing the situation in blunt political terms:
"This is 100 percent political, ok? This is all about trying to hurt President Trump's Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans in the midterms."
He then walked through his reasoning. David Axelrod, CNN's own chief political analyst and a former Obama White House staffer, visited Pope Leo last week. Discussions about Obama himself visiting the pontiff were reportedly underway. And then, Lambert argued, the pope began publicly criticizing Trump administration policies.
Lambert told the panel:
"If you look at what, play out the dots here... David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week. They're talking about Obama going to visit Pope Leo."
He continued: "All of a sudden, now, Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel..." Lambert also pointed to three cardinals who, he said, came out that same day criticizing U.S. immigration policy. "This is all about trying to get the Catholic vote against Trump," he said.
The Axelrod visit to the Vatican has already raised eyebrows among conservatives who see Obama's inner circle maintaining an unusually active post-presidency influence operation. Whether that visit was personal, professional, or political remains an open question, but Lambert left no ambiguity about his interpretation.
Host Abby Phillip interjected, telling Lambert his theory had a "lot of flaws." She pointed out that Pope Francis, Leo's predecessor, had met with Vice President JD Vance as one of his final acts before his death. The implication: the Vatican meets with officials from both parties.
Lambert shot back without hesitation:
"There's no flaws. Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama. The pope is saying he's not political. Why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama's campaigns and in the White House?"
When Phillip pressed further, noting that Pope Francis had been "extremely critical" of Trump as well, Lambert responded by distinguishing the situations. "JD Vance is the Vice President of the United States," he said, suggesting a sitting vice president's audience with the pope is categorically different from a political operative's visit.
CNN commentator Bakari Sellers offered a simpler explanation for the Axelrod meeting: "he's from Chicago." Pope Leo is also a Chicago native, a fact that could explain the connection without any political conspiracy. But Lambert was unmoved.
Lambert's CNN appearance followed a blistering Sunday post from President Trump on Truth Social, where the president took direct aim at Pope Leo. The feud had been building since the pontiff criticized the U.S. offensive against Iran, though he did not name Trump or Washington directly.
Trump called the pope "weak" and captive to the "Radical Left." He went further, suggesting that Leo owed his papacy to Trump's own presence in the White House. Trump wrote:
"Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn't on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump."
Trump added: "If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."
In the same post, Trump praised the pope's brother, identified only as Louis, calling him "all MAGA." Trump wrote: "He gets it, and Leo doesn't!"
Obama's continued role in shaping Democratic strategy, even years after leaving office, is hardly a secret. His public backing of anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis and his interventions in party leadership decisions have kept him squarely in the political arena.
Pope Leo XIV did not let the attacks go unanswered. Speaking to reporters during a flight to Algeria, where he held a holy Mass at the Basilica of Saint Augustine on Tuesday, the pontiff addressed the feud directly.
He said he had "no fear" of the Trump administration and framed his public statements as a matter of religious duty:
"I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do."
At the same time, the pope struck a measured tone, saying he did not want a prolonged public fight. "I don't want to get into a debate with [Trump]," he said. But he added a broader moral appeal:
"Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say: there's a better way to do this."
The tension between the White House and the Vatican is not new. Just weeks before Pope Francis died in April 2025, he described Trump's migrant deportations as a "major crisis." Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, responded at the time by telling the late pope to "stick to the Catholic Church."
And the pattern extends even further back. In 2003, Pope John Paul II was strongly opposed to the invasion of Iraq. The Vatican has a long history of weighing in on American policy, and American presidents have a long history of not appreciating it.
Lambert's theory, that Axelrod, Obama, and the pope are running a coordinated midterm operation, is unverified. No evidence in the public record links the Axelrod visit to any Democratic campaign strategy targeting Catholic voters. The names of the three cardinals Lambert referenced were not specified, and the details of their immigration policy statements remain unclear.
But the underlying political concern is real enough. Catholic voters are a swing constituency. Trump made gains among them in recent cycles. Any perception that the Vatican is aligning with Democratic messaging on immigration or foreign policy could complicate Republican outreach, whether or not anyone in Chicago or Rome planned it that way.
Obama's ongoing involvement in Democratic Party direction is well documented. His strategists remain fixtures in media and political circles. Axelrod's dual role as a CNN analyst and a longtime Obama operative makes his Vatican visit inherently newsworthy, even if the visit turns out to have been entirely social.
One of Pope Francis's final meetings before his death was with Vice President JD Vance, on April 20 last year at the Vatican. That meeting drew far less controversy. The difference, Lambert would argue, is that Vance holds public office. Axelrod does not, but he does hold political influence, and plenty of it.
The broader pattern of Obama-world operatives shaping Democratic strategy from behind the scenes is not in dispute. Whether that influence now extends to the Vatican is a very different claim, and one Lambert has not substantiated beyond the sequence of events he described on air.
Several questions remain unanswered. What was the purpose of Axelrod's meeting with Pope Leo? Is an Obama visit to the Vatican actually being planned, and if so, by whom? What exactly did the three cardinals say about immigration, and was their timing coordinated with anyone outside the Church? None of these have been resolved.
Lambert is not a marginal figure. As head of Point Bridge Capital, he moves in serious financial and political circles. His willingness to go on CNN and make these claims, and to hold his ground under cross-examination from the host, suggests he believes the theory has traction among the Republican base, even if the evidence trail is thin.
The feud between Trump and Pope Leo shows no sign of cooling. The pope is speaking from pulpits and airplane cabins. The president is posting from Truth Social. And now a well-connected financier is connecting them both to a Chicago political machine that never quite seems to leave the stage.
When the Vatican starts showing up on the midterm battlefield, real or imagined, you know the stakes have moved well beyond politics as usual.
