Trump on Obama surveillance claims: 'I don't stand by anything'

President Donald Trump said his allegation that he was illegally surveilled by former President Barack Obama has “been proven very strongly” and that that surveillance has negated the relatively warm relationship that the two presidents developed in the weeks following Trump’s victory last year.

“Well, he was very nice to me. But after that, we've had some difficulties. So it doesn't matter,” Trump said in an interview taped over the weekend that aired Monday on “CBS This Morning.” “You know, words are less important to me than deeds. And you saw what happened with surveillance. And everybody saw what happened with surveillance.”


After campaigning hard for Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, Obama was quick to extend his congratulations to Trump following his unexpected victory, inviting the Manhattan billionaire to the White House just two days after Election Day. The two men held an extended meeting in the Oval Office and Trump, who railed against Obama on the campaign trail and was the most prominent voice behind the so-called birther movement that baselessly questioned whether Obama was born in the U.S., spoke warmly of the man he would succeed in the White House.

Over the following weeks, the two men spoke again via telephone multiple times and Trump said in an interview that he had sought Obama’s counsel on some Cabinet appointments, although he declined to say which ones. Trump, who had not met Obama personally before their Oval Office meeting in the immediate aftermath of the election, said last December that “I really like him as a person” and that the two presidents “have a really good chemistry together.”

But in early March, Trump wrote on Twitter that Obama had illegally ordered surveillance of Trump Tower in the days and weeks leading up to last year’s election, an allegation for which neither the president nor any White House staff member has been able to offer definitive proof. Trump raised the allegation in his interview without prompting, but then appeared unwilling to discuss it further when CBS anchor John Dickerson asked him whether he stood by the accusation.

“I don't stand by anything. I just — you can take it the way you want. I think our side's been proven very strongly. And everybody's talking about it. And frankly, it should be discussed,” Trump said. “That is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it's a very big topic. And it's a topic that should be No. 1. And we should find out what the hell is going on.”

When Dickerson pressed Trump for further details, the president replied that “you don’t have to ask me” because “I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions.” Dickerson followed up that he wanted Trump’s opinion as president, prompting Trump to say “OK, it's enough. Thank you,” and abruptly ended the interview.