President Donald Trump speaks during an Opportunity Zone conference with state, local, tribal and community leaders, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, on April 17, 2019. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Trump Says It Would Be ‘Hard to Believe’ Obama Didn’t Know What FBI Was up to in 2016

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that “it would certainly be hard to believe” that former President Barack Obama was unaware of what the FBI was up to in 2016.

Speaking to WMAL radio host Larry O’Connor, Trump said he was considering holding his own press conference on Thursday following the public release of the Mueller report.

NEW: Trump tells @WMALDC‘s @LarryOConnor Barr will do a press conference tomorrow. Trump says he may do one afterward. — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 17, 2019

Trump went on to praise Attorney General William Barr, saying “he’s grabbed it by the horn.”

“You’ll see a lot of very strong things come out tomorrow,” Trump tells WMAL. “[Barr’s] been a fantastic attorney general. He’s grabbed it by the horn,” Trump says. — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 17, 2019

The conversation turned to several former Obama-era officials, most of whom are likely to be investigated in the coming months as Barr has pledged, and Trump touted the fact that he had called attention to them as “one of my great achievements, actually.”

Trump says calling attention to the actions of Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, et al … may be “one of my great achievements, actually.” — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 17, 2019

The president also had strong opinions when it came to whether or not Obama was aware of what the FBI was doing. “How is it possible that he didn’t know?” he asked. “I mean, we’re talking about pervasive, horrible things that were happening.”

Trump, asked on @WMALDC if Obama had knowledge of the actions of the FBI in 2016, says he questions how his predecessor didn’t know. “How is it possible that he didn’t know? … I mean, we’re talking about pervasive, horrible things that were happening.” — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 17, 2019

“It would certainly be hard to believe that he didn’t know what was going on,” Trump concluded.

“It would certainly be hard to believe that he didn’t know what was going on,” Trump tells @LarryOConnor. — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 17, 2019

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are expected to release the redacted Mueller report and give a press conference Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST.

By Virginia Kruta | Associate Editor

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