Former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice and other ex-administration officials took aim at President Donald Trump after his successful visit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
The president openly claimed he has made more progress with the North Korean government than Obama did in eight years. But the Obama loyalists bristled at the president’s proclamations.
Over the weekend, the president again met with Kim and at one point, Trump insisted that the Obama administration failed to realize such a meeting.
“The Obama administration was begging for a meeting, there were begging for meetings constantly, and Chairman Kim would not meet him,” Trump said on Sunday.
But former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice thought the claim was “horse-sh*t.”
Rice tweeted out that it would be “stating the obvious” that Obama sought no such meetings with the North Korean leader.
At the risk of stating the obvious, this is horse-sh*t. https://t.co/9YpgVF7qEP
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) June 30, 2019
Rice was joined in the condemnation by several other members of Obama’s regime including former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes:
Trump is lying. I was there for all 8 years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Foreign policy isn’t reality television it’s reality.
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) June 30, 2019
Former Obama CIA Director Michael Hayden also lashed out at Trump:
Yes. It’s horseshit
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) June 30, 2019
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also told CNN’s Situation Room even as Trump’s stepping over the DMZ is a “great historical moment,” he insisted that Obama never made a move to meet with the North Korean dictator.
James Clapper: "In all the deliberations that I participated in on North Korea during the Obama administration, I can recall no instance whatever where President Obama ever indicated any interest whatsoever in meeting with Chairman Kim." https://t.co/4UNlHGRuzl pic.twitter.com/MIzVcad9Fd
— The Hill (@thehill) June 30, 2019
Regardless, the fact remains that President Obama made no progress at all to break the ice with the North Koreans. Diplomacy can only begin when both sides are willing to meet and talk.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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