In a news conference, Trump said, “President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him,” the President said. “The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly, and Chairman Kim would not meet with him.”

“Trump is lying,” tweeted Ben Rhodes, who served as Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications during the Obama administration. “I was there for all eight years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Foreign policy isn’t reality television it’s reality.”

Rhodes later further criticized Trump, calling his foreign policy a “failure.” “Photo ops don’t get rid of nuclear weapons, carefully negotiated agreements do,” the former official wrote.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also adamantly denied Trump’s statements. “I don’t know where he’s getting that,” Clapper said during a Sunday appearance on CNN. “In all the deliberations 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.”