Amid rejection of President Donald Trump's suggestion North Korea rebuffed Obama administration meeting requests, Obama-era Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said "that's news to me."
"I don't know where he's getting that," Clapper told CNN's "State of the Union." "In all the deliberations that I participated in on North Korea during the Obama administration, I can recall no instances whatever where President Obama ever indicated any interest whatsoever in meeting with Chairman Kim [Jong Un].
"That's news to me."
Clapper's remarks came after his listening to a snippet of President Trump's news conference where he claimed the Obama administration was "begging" for meetings with North Korea.
"President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him," President Trump told reporters. "The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly, and Chairman Kim would not meet with him."
Obama's National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted "Trump is lying":
"Trump is lying. I was there for all 8 years. Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Foreign policy isn't reality television it's reality."
Former DNI Clapper did acknowledge the historic nature of President Trump's visit to the DMZ, but doubted it will result in progress toward the ultimate U.S. goal of denuclearization on behalf of North Korea, because unlike President Trump's vows to make a denuclearized North Korea a rich and prosperous country through trade and commerce, Clapper follows the North Korean belief it cannot survive without nuclear weapons.
"I personally don't believe the North Koreans have long term any intent to denuclearize," Clapper, a frequent critic of President Trump, told CNN. "Why should they? It's their ticket to survival, and they're just not going to do that."
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