The three living Democratic presidents have not been in touch with President Donald Trump about his attacking Iran, sources and their representatives told ABC News, despite his boast that one told him, “I wish I did what you did.”
“I don’t want to get into who,’ I don’t want to get him into trouble,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office, hinting he was referring to a Democrat.
Asked by a Fox News reporter about the conversation, he declined to say who the former president was.
President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order regarding a task force on fraud in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, March 16, 2026, in Washington.
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
“Was it George W Bush?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.
“No,” Trump said.
“Was it Bill Clinton?,” the reporter continued.
“I don’t want to say. I don’t want to say because,” Trump responded
“Barack Obama?” the reporter asked.
“A member of a party, a member of a party and they have Trump Derangement syndrome,” Trump responded. “But it’s somebody that happens to like me. And I like that person who’s a smart person. But that person said, ‘I wish I did it.’ Okay, but I don’t want to get into who.”
White House officials have not commented on the conversation Trump said he had.
Sources and representatives close to former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton pushed back on Trump’s assertion to ABC News.
Former public officials attend the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026.
AP Photo/Erin Hooley
An aide to former President Obama told ABC News Monday Obama has not spoken to Trump recently, when asked if they had talked about Iran or anything else since they were last together.
Obama attended Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, and the two were seen chatting at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral earlier that month.
A source close to former President Clinton told ABC News Monday that Clinton has not spoken with Trump about the Iran strikes.
Former President Biden did not speak with Trump about the strike on Iran either, according to a source familiar.
Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for international problems, including the conflicts between Israel and Gaza and Russian and Ukraine.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for President George W. Bush.
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