--- title: Former Officials: Trump 'Is Lying' Obama Tried to Meet Kim description: Ben Rhodes and James Clapper adamantly denied President Trump's claims that former President Obama tried and failed to meet with Kim Jong Un canonical: https://time.com/5617952/trump-lying-obama-kim-jong-un/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-30T19:22:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:53:27.462Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former White House Officials Say President Trump 'Is Lying' Over Claims Obama Tried to Meet With Kim Jong Un og:description: "I was there for all eight years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un" og:url: https://time.com/5617952/trump-lying-obama-kim-jong-un/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt294dd9c803453089/6989ff69656a3f3f4cbd8864/trump-kim-clapper-rhodes-obama-meet.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump Visits South Korea og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former White House Officials Say President Trump 'Is Lying' Over Claims Obama Tried to Meet With Kim Jong Un twitter:description: "I was there for all eight years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt294dd9c803453089/6989ff69656a3f3f4cbd8864/trump-kim-clapper-rhodes-obama-meet.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former White House Officials Say President Trump 'Is Lying' Over Claims Obama Tried to Meet With Kim Jong Un > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jun 30, 2019 7:22 PM UTC  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump inside the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea on June 30, 2019 in Panmunjom, South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump inside the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea on June 30, 2019 in Panmunjom, South Korea.Dong-A Ilbo—Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jun 30, 2019 7:22 PM UTC Two former high-level White House officials flatly denied President Donald Trump’s claims on Sunday that President Barack Obama repeatedly sought meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In [a joint news conference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ6OSoD1u7g) with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, President Trump claimed that his predecessor had tried to meet with Kim on multiple occasions, only to be rebuffed. “President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him,” the President said. “The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly, and Chairman Kim would not meet with him.” “Trump is lying,” tweeted Ben Rhodes, who served as Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications during the Obama administration. “I was there for all eight years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Foreign policy isn’t reality television it’s reality.” > [](https://twitter.com/brhodes/status/1145195167881633792) Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper adamantly denied Trump’s statements as well. “I don’t know where he’s getting that,” said Clapper during a Sunday appearance [on CNN](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/06/30/sotu-clapper-on-obama.cnn). “In all the deliberations I participated in on North Korea during the Obama administration I can recall no instance whatever where President Obama ever indicated any interest whatsoever in meeting with Chairman Kim.” On Sunday, [Trump met with Kim](https://time.com/5617892/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-shake-hands-dmz/) at the Korean demilitarized zone, which separates North and South Korea. Stepping across the border, Trump became the first sitting American President to visit North Korea’s isolated state. The two leaders met for nearly an hour, and agreed to restart talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. In a later tweet on Sunday, Rhodes further excoriated the current President, calling his foreign policy a “failure.” “Photo ops don’t get rid of nuclear weapons, carefully negotiated agreements do,” the former official wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/brhodes/status/1145196945494773761) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5617952/trump-lying-obama-kim-jong-un/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5617952/trump-lying-obama-kim-jong-un/"},"headline":"Former White House Officials Say President Trump 'Is Lying' Over Claims Obama Tried to Meet With Kim Jong Un","datePublished":"2019-06-30T19:22:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:53:27.462Z","description":"\"I was there for all eight years. 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