William Cummings

USA TODAY

President Trump said that former president Barack Obama is "behind" the angry protests that have erupted at Republican town halls around the nation during an interview on the Fox News morning program Fox and Friends scheduled to air Tuesday morning.

"I think he is behind it," Trump said when asked about Obama's role in the protests. "I also think it's politics. That's the way it is.

"No, I think that President Obama is behind it," Trump said, "because his people are certainly behind it and some of the leaks, possibly come from that group, 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."

Trump blamed "Obama people" for leaks about his telephone calls with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto earlier this month.

Trump and his supporters have attributed the protests and angry attendees at Republican lawmakers' town halls on left-wing organizers. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said people who confronted him at a recent town hall had been paid "to bully and intimidate" him.

Last week, Fox News ran a segment on its show Special Report that said the non-profit group Organizing for Action was planning the protests. Organizing for Action is an advocacy group created after Obama's re-election to promote his presidential agenda. Obama's 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina and former White House aide Jon Carson are among the group's leaders.

After the segment aired Trump sent a tweet that said the "so-called angry crowds" were planned by "liberal activists."

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