President Donald Trump made a shocking and bold claim during a spontaneous press conference at the White House Rose Garden on Friday. After signing his fake non-emergency national emergency that’s upsetting even Ann Coulter, Trump took questions from reporters, including one who asked about the progress in the denuclearization of North Korea.
“A lot’s been accomplished, we’re talking to them, we’re dealing with them. When I came into office, I met right there in the Oval Office with President Obama,” Trump responded. “And I sat in those beautiful chairs and we talked, it was supposed to be 15 minutes as you know it ended up being many times longer than that.”
“And I said ‘What’s the biggest problem?'” he continued. “He said, ‘By far, North Korea.’ And I don’t want to speak for him, but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war, in fact he told me that he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea.”
Trump claims Obama told him that he was "so close to starting a big war with North Korea."
He then says Prime Minister Abe of Japan nominated him for the Nobel Prize, and also takes credit for "stopping the slaughter of perhaps 3 million people" in Syria. pic.twitter.com/6Pmn31eEWQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 15, 2019
Among other things, Trump does not seem to understand the meaning of “not speaking for somebody,” but that’s neither here nor there. Toronto star reporter Daniel Dale stated in a tweet that according to the people around Obama at the time, there is “zero evidence this is true.”
Trump notes Obama told him North Korea was biggest world problem. He says, "I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea…he told me he was…close to starting a big war with North Korea." There is zero evidence this is true; people around Obama have told me zero chance.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 15, 2019
I asked Obama’s office about this claim. They wouldn’t comment themselves but referred me to former Obama security aide @nedprice, who told me it was ridiculous, at odds with everything Obama has always believed and done about North Korea. https://t.co/EuaCcT7uIY
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 15, 2019
Hardly surprising given the source, but others were likewise quick to call Trump on his fiction.
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1096445732536619009
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1096470566540849152
Trump: I don't want to speak for [Obama] but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea.
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) February 15, 2019
Holy Crapola! Trump just claimed that Obama told him he was ready to start a "big war with North Korea."
Donald Trump is…insane.
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) February 15, 2019
We were not on the brink of war with North Korea in 2016. Highlighting the longstanding and widely known threat of North Korea’s nuclear program is very different from saying you’re about to start a big war.
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) February 15, 2019
This section on North Korea is so f***n' bonkers.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 15, 2019
In other words: this is fine. Everything is fine.