President Donald Trump claimed the "Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia." | AP Photo Trump slams 'dumb' Obama refugee deal with Australia

President Donald Trump criticized a deal by the Obama administration to take in spurned refugees from Australia Wednesday night, tweeting that he planned to study the "dumb deal."

"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia," Trump said on Twitter. "Why? I will study this dumb deal!"


The "illegal immigrants" Trump references are predominantly-Muslim refugees who are seeking asylum and have been resettled in island camps on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Former President Barack Obama's administration agreed to take in an unspecified number of the refugees — which have been variously reported to total from 1,600 to 3,000 in number — after they were refused by Australia.

The tweet came after Trump reportedly spoke with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the phone on Saturday.

The Washington Post reported earlier Wednesday that during the conversation Trump described the refugee agreement as "the worst deal ever" and accused Turnbull of seeking to export the "next Boston bombers," a reference to Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the two Kyrgyzstan-born American citizens behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured over 260 people.

The report also claimed Trump abruptly ended their conversation after telling the Australian prime minister that of all the conversation he'd had with world leaders Saturday, "This is the worst call by far."

In a follow-up by the Associated Press, the prime minister declined to comment on the report.

"It's better that these things — these conversations — are conducted candidly, frankly, privately," Turnbull said.

The Australian leader also reiterated that that the relationship between Australia and the U.S. remained "very strong."

"I can assure you the relationship is very strong," Turnbull said. "The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the new administration underlines the closeness of the alliance. But as Australians know me very well: I stand up for Australia in every forum — public or private."