US President Donald Trump has said he believes ex-president, Barack Obama, is behind the protests against Republican lawmakers and national security leaks.
He told Fox News: “I think President Obama’s behind it because his people are certainly behind it. I also think it’s just politics”.
Trump offered no evidence for his claims; his predecessor in the White House has not commented. Trump also spoke about his budget plans and other issues.
President Trump’s interview, broadcast hours before he was due to give his first address to a joint session of Congress, is expected to set out in greater detail his plans to cut spending and boost the economy.
He was asked about the protests faced by some Republican politicians at town hall meetings across the country and protests about his travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries. Trump said he was certain Obama loyalists were behind both those protests and White House leaks.
“In terms of him being behind things, that’s politics. And it will probably continue,” he added.
He was asked for more detail on how he would find the money for the 10% increase in military spending he has proposed for 2018. Proposed cuts elsewhere are unlikely to cover the proposed increase.
Trump said he would get “more product for our buck” in terms of buying military hardware and would ask for a “form of reimbursement” from countries making use of the US military. But he said his overall aim was to grow the economy. “We were probably GDP of little more than 1% and if I can get that up to three or maybe more, we have a whole different ball game,” he said.
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