WASHINGTON (AP) — Twice on Monday, President Donald Trump mentioned he’d wrangled a confession of types from an Oval Office predecessor who he mentioned had expressed remorse in a non-public dialog about not attacking Iran the way in which Trump has been doing for greater than two weeks.
But there’s just a bit downside: Representatives for the 4 dwelling former presidents — three Democrats and one Republican — mentioned none have been in contact with Trump just lately.
Trump declined to call the previous president when reporters requested who it was, saying he didn’t need to “embarrass him.”
The Republican president first advised the story throughout prolonged remarks in regards to the Iran battle as he opened a gathering of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center. Trump is chairman of the board and held the assembly on the White House.
He repeated that Iran had been a risk to the United States for many years however mentioned he’s the one president who had the braveness to do one thing about it.
“Look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I’m doing, and they should have done it a long time ago,” he mentioned. “It would have been a lot easier. There’s no president that wanted to do it.
“And yet every president knew. I’ve spoken to a certain president, who I like, actually, a past president, a former president. He said, ‘I wish I did it, I wish I did,’ but they didn’t do it. I’m doing it,” Trump continued.
Asked which former president he’d spoken to, Trump mentioned: “I can’t tell you that. I don’t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he’s got no career.”
Representatives for every of former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden mentioned that they had not spoken with Trump just lately. The people spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they don’t seem to be approved to debate the previous presidents’ non-public conversations.
The White House didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark after being knowledgeable that not one of the former presidents mentioned he had spoken with Trump just lately.
Trump and all 4 previous presidents have been final collectively in the identical house for his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 — effectively earlier than the battle.
He has been extraordinarily essential of Biden and Obama, typically saying Biden is the “worst president in the history of our country” and accusing Obama of negotiating a “horrible deal” with Iran over its nuclear weapons. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that settlement the primary time he was president.
But the Republican just lately supplied sympathetic feedback about Clinton, saying it “bothers” him that the previous president had been known as to provide a deposition to Congress about his friendship with convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I liked Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton,” Trump mentioned in a Feb. 4 interview with NBC News. “I liked his behavior toward me. I thought he got me, he understood me.”
Trump repeated his story about discussing Iran with a former president later Monday within the Oval Office, the place he introduced that Vice President JD Vance will lead a activity pressure that was created to eradicate fraud in federal profit applications.
“Was it George W. Bush?” a reporter requested.
“Was it Bill Clinton?” the reporter requested.
Trump mentioned: “I don’t want to say. I don’t want to say,” then added that “it’s somebody that happens to like me. And I like that person, who’s a smart person. But that person said, ‘I wish I did it,’ OK, but I don’t want to get into who, OK. I don’t want to get them into trouble.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-former-president-claim-iran_n_69b8ec6fe4b07119c0bd5cda