White House chief of staff says Obama was ‘shocked’ by Ray Rice video

President Obama was “shocked” by the video showing Ray Rice knocking out the former Baltimore Ravens running back’s then-fiancee, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday.

{mosads}McDonough said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he and the president have “talked generally about the situation in the NFL.”

“And the president was shocked by what he saw, let’s put it that way,” he said.

The video, which shows Rice punching his fiancee in an elevator during a fight between the two hard enough that she falls against a railing and passes out, caused the NFL to suspend him indefinitely from playing.

Some have criticized the NFL as being too lenient on Rice because the league only suspended him for two games when the altercation was originally made public. His indefinite suspension came only after the full video was released, and critics have called for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who’s in charge of disciplining players, to be fired.

Asked how Obama feels about the NFL’s handling of the situation, McDonough demurred, but said it was clear the indefinite suspension was the right move.

“I don’t want to get into a characterization of that right now.  But I think we all know that Ray Rice being suspended indefinitely seems to be exactly the right thing,” he said.