President Trump in an interview broadcast early Tuesday blamed former President Obama for protests against him and Republican lawmakers at recent town halls, as well as for leaks from the White House.

“I think President Obama’s behind it, because his people are certainly behind it,” Trump told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

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“And some of the leaks possibly come from that group. You know, some of the leaks, which are really very serious leaks, because they’re very bad in terms of national security, but I also understand that’s politics. And in terms of him being behind things, that’s politics, and it will probably continue.”

A report emerged over the weekend that White House press secretary Sean Spicer checked staff members’ phones in an attempt to crack down on leaks.

CNN reported Monday that Trump had signed off on the leak investigation. During the interview broadcast Tuesday, Trump said he was would have instead gone one-on-one with staffers, but supported Spicer’s method.

"I would've handled it differently than Sean, but Sean handles it his way and I'm OK with it,” Trump said of the phone checks.



Trump earlier this month blamed holdovers from the Obama administration for leaking details of his phone calls with leaders from Mexico and Australia.

“It’s a disgrace that they leaked because it’s very much against our country,” he told Fox News's Judith Miller at the time.

Mallory Shelbourne contributed to this report, which was updated at 7:29 a.m.