Mr Trump's approach to government is partly to blame for the US response to coronavirus, Mr Obama said.
"It would have been bad even with the best of government," he was quoted as saying in the call. "It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset -- of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' -- when that mindset is operationalized in our government."
Mr Obama also strongly criticised the decision to drop criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn during the Trump-Russia investigation.
What is the coronavirus situation in the US?
More than 77,000 people have now died and the US has 1.2m confirmed cases - both by far the highest in the world.
Many states introduced lockdown measures in March but have now lifted restrictions, allowing people to return to work.
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But health officials warn this may lead the virus to spread further.
Mr Trump's approach to the pandemic has oscillated. In February he dismissed the threat, saying it would disappear, but by mid-March he acknowledged its severity.
In April he suggested that ingesting disinfectant could be a preventative - something experts immediately rejected.
If Belarus was already in the grip of a public health crisis, its president looks hell-bent on turning COVID-19 into a catastrophe for the country.
In defiance of the World Health Organisation's advice, Belarus went ahead with its military parade on Saturday to commemorate the allied victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 - despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Thousands of soldiers marched past stands filled with onlookers. Children and military veterans sat side by side in the Minsk sunshine with very little care for social distancing and only a few wearing masks.
Image:The Second World War parade went ahead in Belarus, complete with military bands
Dressed in military attire and shaking hands with all he met, President Alexander Lukashenko told the crowds he had no choice but to hold the parade.
"There will be people who will condemn us," he said.
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"Do not rush to draw conclusions, let alone condemn us, the heirs of the victory, the Belarusians. We simply could not act differently."
Most other nations have acted very differently.
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Belarus's large neighbour to the east, Russia, held a muted version of the 75th anniversary commemoration which President Vladimir Putin had hoped to make a key fixture of his 20th year in power.
He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and promised the nation that the parade would take place at a later date, though he gave no indication as to when that might be possible.
Image:Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko said he had no choice but to hold the parade
"We are united by common memory and common hopes, our shared aspirations, our responsibility for the present and the future," he said.
"We firmly believe that we are invincible when we are together."
Russia's COVID-19 caseload neared the 200,000 milestone on Saturday - an especially grim marker on a sombre occasion commemorating the huge Soviet death toll in the Second World War.
Even that figure may be an underestimate.
Image:A flyover in Minsk was part of the celebrations
In an unusually frank admission from a Russian politician, Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor and head of the country's COVID-19 task force, said earlier in the week he thought the numbers in Moscow alone were closer to 300,000.
Belarus has a far lower caseload - a little over 21,000 - but it is higher than its Eastern European neighbours and it is spreading fast.
President Lukashenko has made defying COVID-19's convention a point of principle, refusing to place the country under lockdown and actively encouraging the public to take part in communal events.
Sporting activities have continued and the president has appeared to take pride in dismissing the threat COVID-19 represents, calling other countries' response a "psychosis" and suggesting vodka or saunas are effective counter-measures.
The picture emerging from the country's hospitals is of a healthcare system under immense strain.
Image:Healthcare facilities in Belarus have had to rely on charities for PPE. Pic: BYCOVID19
Volunteers from an organisation called ByCovid19 have been supplying healthcare workers across the country with the equipment the government is failing to provide them with.
In a little over a month they have received more than 2,000 requests from almost every healthcare facility in the country. The volunteers say morale amongst medics is worryingly low.
"One can't say that the state authorities don't do anything. They do," said Andrei Tkachev who is co-ordinating ByCovid19's response.
"Unfortunately, the state is riddled in bureaucracy and is very slow in its actions.
"Ordinary doctors' salaries are very small, they cannot be compared to those of doctors in civilised countries.
"Regretfully, they are quite depressed and many of them are thinking of quitting.
"Because they put their lives at risk while not having protective means and getting paid pennies for that means many doctors refuse to work."
Image:A priest blesses a new grave where a Belarusian COVID-19 victim has been recently buried. Pic: Irina Alekhovskaya/Belsat
The official COVID-19 death toll in Belarus is low at 126.
In Russia too, the ratio of deaths to cases is unusually low - 198,676 cases to 1,827 deaths - which begs the question whether the toll in either country stands up to scrutiny.
These are both ex-Soviet bureaucracies where ugly truths tend to be suppressed.
President Putin's approach though has been one of caution, with the lockdown regime in Moscow set to continue until at least the end of May and with strict controls through other Russian regions too.
President Lukashenko, by contrast, has taken a more cavalier approach to the health threat COVID-19 presents his people.
He has tried to keep the economy afloat by refusing to implement any kind of self-isolation regime ahead of presidential elections on 9 August.
Even though he has been in power since 1994 and there is very little expectation he will not continue to do so through August, holding this military parade is an open invitation for the virus to spread. It may come back to haunt him.
Russia has marked 75 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two despite cancelling its traditional military parade because of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a subdued celebration, President Vladimir Putin laid roses at the Eternal Flame war memorial.
Unable to attend public processions, people uploaded pictures of family members and told war stories online.
On Saturday Russia recorded another rise of 10,000 cases of coronavirus.
The huge commemorations are important features of the calendars of former Soviet countries, which together lost around 26 million people in World War Two.
Fighter jets flew over Moscow, leaving a trail of colours of the Russian flag, and a column of soldiers marched past President Putin at the walls of the Kremlin.
State television broadcast a replay of last year's Red Square parade.
But in Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has denied coronavirus is a national threat, crowds of thousands attended Victory Day events.
Mr Lukashenko attended a parade in Minsk wearing a military uniform and said it was unacceptable for the country to think about cancelling the event.
Last month President Putin cancelled the huge Victory Day parade that sees columns of soldiers, veterans, historical Red Army vehicles, and modern military hardware parade through Moscow's Red Square.
On Saturday Mr Putin said Russia will "certainly celebrate this anniversary extensively and solemnly, as usual", pledging the processions will be held at a later date.
Parts of Russia have been on lockdown since late March but the country now has the fifth-highest rate of infections in the world with almost 200,000 confirmed cases.
A rise of 10,000 cases has been reported daily in the past week.
In a televised address on Saturday Mr Putin said, "Our veterans fought for life, against death. And we will always be equal to their unity and endurance"
"We know and firmly believe that we are invincible when we stand together."
Germans are urged to be vigilant against 'return of evil in a new guise' and to 'liberate ourselves' from Nazi legacy as country marks 75th anniversary of fall of Third Reich
German President was accompanied by Angela Merkel in Berlin yesterday
His tribute came as other European leaders laid wreaths across the continent
He asked people to 'liberate' themselves from Nazi history as 'new brand of nationalism' takes hold
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged the country to be vigilant against a 'return of evil in a new guise' as the nation marks the 75th anniversary of the fall of the Third Reich.
The German head of state, accompanied by Chancellor Angela Merkel, stuck to social distancing guidelines at they laid down their wreaths yesterday at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin.
In his speech, Steinmeier noted that a 'new brand of nationalism' was on the rise in Germany and that his countrymen had a duty to 'liberate' themselves from the shadow of Nazi rule.
The 64-year-old said: 'Our country, from which evil once emanated, has over the years changed from being a threat to the international order to being its champion.
A projection reading 'Thank You' in Russian, English, French and German is projected on Berlin's Brandenburg Gate yesterday, on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks after the wreath laying ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin, Germany yesterday
Merkel and other prominent politicians lay wreaths in front of an enlarged replica of Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture Mother with her Dead Son at the monument to the victims of war and dictatorship in Berlin, Germany, on VE-Day
'And so we must not allow this peaceful order to disintegrate before our eyes.'
Germany does not usually mark the anniversary of the Nazis' unconditional surrender to the Allies with much fanfare.
This year however the city of Berlin declared a one-off public holiday on Friday.
President Steinmeier urged Germans to see 8 May as 'a day of gratitude' because it freed Germany from the terror of the Nazis and brought peace to Europe.
'For us Germans, 'never again' means 'never again alone',' he said.
'We want more, not less cooperation in the world - also in the fight against the pandemic.'
POLAND: A Polish veteran attends a wreath-laying ceremony to mark victory over Nazi Germany at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Lublin, eastern Poland
Two people walk among the headstones of some 8,000 American troops who died fighting in Europe at Belgium's Henri Chapelle World War II cemetery on VE Day
RUSSIA: Officials take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a monument to Field Marshal Gregory Zhukov, who led the Red Army during the Second World War, in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia
His words recalled a watershed speech by former president Richard von Weizsaecker who in 1985 urged Germans to view 8 May not as a day of defeat, but of liberation from the Nazi terror.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also expressed 'immense gratitude' to the countries that 'accepted Germany back into the family of peaceful nations' despite its responsibility for the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed.
But not everyone agreed with the tone of the commemorations in Germany.
Alexander Gauland, a top figure in the far-right AfD party, slammed a suggestion to make 8 May a permanent public holiday, describing it as a 'day of complete defeat' for Germany.
FRANCE: Emmanuel Macron led a toned-down ceremony marking VE-Day in Paris on Friday, first by laying a wreath at a statue of General Charles de Gaulle and then another at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at the Arc du Triomphe (pictured)
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews, said Gauland's view of the anniversary was typical of 'neo-Nazis'.
'The intention is to portray the Germans primarily as victims. I find this distortion of history and relativisation of Nazi crimes irresponsible,' he said.
Other European countries joined Germany in marking the victory over the Nazis yesterday.
Parades and public celebrations were scaled back or cancelled altogether on a continent that has borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, with 1.6million cases and more than 150,000 deaths reported there.
French President Emmanuel Macron led the celebrations in Paris by laying a wreath in front of a statue of General Charles de Gaulle before making his way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier underneath the Arc du Triomphe.
Accompanied by former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, alongside military leaders and other politicians who kept their distance from each-other, he listened to an acapella version of La Marseillaise before laying a tricolore wreath.
Veterans hold the French national flag as they take part in the ceremony for the 75th anniversary of World War II victory in Europe at the Monument to the Dead in the French Riviera city of Nice
Macron had earlier urged the French public not to attend public celebrations but instead to put up flags and decorate their windows and balconies in tribute instead.
Large-scale parades across Europe were scrapped, drastically downsized or moved online, as the continent grapples with its biggest crisis since World War II - this time an invisible enemy that has sickened more than 3.7 million worldwide.
With veterans already at an advanced age, organisers of marches had deemed it too risky for them to attend events even in countries which have begun to ease lockdown measures.
Russia had originally planned a huge military display on its May 9 Victory Day, with world leaders including France's President Emmanuel Macron on the guest list.
But now only a flypast will take place over the Red Square, as the country becomes Europe's new hotspot of coronavirus infections.
President Vladimir Putin laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial, before making a TV address which will not only touch on the war.
In the US, President Donald Trump and his wife Melania joined a wreath-laying ceremony at the World War II memorial in Washington, DC.
The US Department of Defense held an online commemoration thank WWII veterans that was streamed on Facebook and Twitter.
In the Czech Republic, where a lockdown has been completely lifted, politicians arrived at 10-minute intervals to lay wreaths on Prague's Vitkov Hill, to minimise contact.
Putin has had an ominously tense relationship with the EU in recent years, steadily chipping away at the thawing of relations seen after the fall of the Berlin Wall and appearing to take an increasingly anti-Western approach. Moscow has aligned itself with the likes of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and China’s Xi Jinping as the international state of play appears increasingly divided. It has left Brussels in a precarious position, not least since Britain’s exit from the EU after the 2016 referendum and the election of Donald Trump as US President highlights and exaggerates that split even further.
It has arguably emboldened Putin who, despite having to deal with sanctions after the Crimea crisis of 2014, continues to be a thorn in the side of the bloc.
Appearing on World Order 2018, an Amazon Prime documentary by TV host Vladimir Solovjev, the Russian President discussed topics rarely answered by world leaders.
During an interview with Mr Solovjev about the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine and the EU's measures in response to the annexation of Crimea, Putin derided attempts made by Brussels to weaken Russia.
When asked whether the bloc will lift sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, the Russian head dismissed the question, saying: “We did not introduce them.
“You see when they are overtaken with internal problems of some serious character they become dependent on these processes and such countries become unpredictable.
“It affects their reliability.
“So are they independent or dependent? And on whom they depend?”
Ukraine and Russia have been at odds since the Crimea crisis of 2014.
However, since then, Putin seems to have found an unlikely ally in French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron has repeatedly referred to the “death of NATO” in recent addresses and argued against the idea of seeing Russia as a threat.
In a joint news conference in Paris alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last year, he said: “Is our enemy today Russia? Or China?
“Is it the goal of NATO to designate them as enemies? I don’t believe so.”
Putin has had an ominously tense relationship with the EU in recent years, steadily chipping away at the thawing of relations seen after the fall of the Berlin Wall and appearing to take an increasingly anti-Western approach. Moscow has aligned itself with the likes of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and China’s Xi Jinping as the international state of play appears increasingly divided. It has left Brussels in a precarious position, not least since Britain’s exit from the EU after the 2016 referendum and the election of Donald Trump as US President highlights and exaggerates that split even further.
It has arguably emboldened Putin who, despite having to deal with sanctions after the Crimea crisis of 2014, continues to be a thorn in the side of the bloc.
Appearing on World Order 2018, an Amazon Prime documentary by TV host Vladimir Solovjev, the Russian President discussed topics rarely answered by world leaders.
During an interview with Mr Solovjev about the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine and the EU's measures in response to the annexation of Crimea, Putin derided attempts made by Brussels to weaken Russia.
When asked whether the bloc will lift sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, the Russian head dismissed the question, saying: “We did not introduce them.
“You see when they are overtaken with internal problems of some serious character they become dependent on these processes and such countries become unpredictable.
“It affects their reliability.
“So are they independent or dependent? And on whom they depend?”
Ukraine and Russia have been at odds since the Crimea crisis of 2014.
However, since then, Putin seems to have found an unlikely ally in French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron has repeatedly referred to the “death of NATO” in recent addresses and argued against the idea of seeing Russia as a threat.
In a joint news conference in Paris alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last year, he said: “Is our enemy today Russia? Or China?
“Is it the goal of NATO to designate them as enemies? I don’t believe so.”
