In one of the most noteworthy moments from Face the Nation host John Dickerson’s all-access weekend with President Trump, an angry and peeved President shooed away Dickerson following a tense exchange about accusations the Trump team were spied on by then-President Barack Obama and his administration during the campaign.
The moment in question aired on Monday’s edition of CBS This Morning from the White House and arose when Dickerson asked Trump if he’s phoned Obama for “any advice that was helpful” in making tough decisions like launching the Syrian airstrikes
This led to Trump noting that Obama “was very nice to me, but after that, we've had some difficulties,” most prominently “what happened with surveillance and everybody saw what happened with surveillance.”
Trump added that everyone “saw what happened with surveillance and I think that was inappropriate, but that's the way [it is].”
Dickerson asked “what does that mean, sir” and Trump simply replied that “[y]ou can figure that out yourself.” The exchange then escalated:
DICKERSON: Well, I — the reason I ask is you said he was — you called him “sick and bad.”
TRUMP: Look, you can figure it out yourself. He was very nice to me with words, but — and when I was with him — but after that, there has been no relationship.
DICKERSON: But you stand by that claim about him?
TRUMP: I don't stand by anything. I just — you can take it the way you want. I think our side's been proven very strongly. And everybody's talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed. I think that is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it's a very big topic. And it's a topic that should be number one. And we should find out what the hell is going on.
DICKERSON: I just wanted to find out, though. You're — you're the President of the United States. You said he was “sick and bad” because he had tapped you — I'm just —
TRUMP: You can take — any way. You can take it any way you want.
Dickerson reiterated to Trump that he wanted to hear directly from him because “you don’t want it to be fake news” and thus “I want to hear it from President Trump.”
“You don’t have to ask me. You don’t have to ask me,” an angry President shot back.
It was at this moment that Trump abruptly and prematurely ended the interview as he sat down at the famous Resolute desk in the Oval Office, staring at Dickerson to leave:
DICKERSON: Why not?
TRUMP: Because I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions.
DICKERSON: But I want to know your opinions. You're the president of the United States.
TRUMP: Okay, it's enough. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Cutting back live to the White House, co-host Gayle King quipped that “well, he was done with that conversation.”
“Yeah. He clearly thinks that President Obama — I mean, he talked about the warmth of their relationship. That's no longer the case. He thinks basically what he said before, which is that President Obama, as he wrote in that tweet, bugged him or tapped his — not bugged him but tapped his — tapped him is how he put it,” Dickerson observed.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from May 1's CBS This Morning:
CBS This Morning
May 1, 2017
8:08 a.m. Eastern
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But most importantly, you know, the decisions. Like, when I make the decision to go with Syria, the 59 Tomahawk missiles. Unbelievable technology. We have unbelievable talent. But those are tough decisions. Those aren't, like, decisions that I'm going to buy a building —
JOHN DICKERSON: Tough why?
TRUMP: Because it's human lives.
DICKERSON: Killing people?
TRUMP: You're killing people. And you can kill the wrong people, too. You know, those things go off and they end up in a town or they end up in a city. And you have another tragedy on your hands. So, these decisions are unbelievable — you know, in terms of the importance because it's human — it’s — it’s — it's killing. I hate it. But things have to be done.
JOHN DICKERSON: How do you learn that skill? Who do you call to say what's it like to —TRUMP: There's nobody you can call.
DICKERSON: Did President Obama give you any advice that was helpful? That you think, wow, he really was —
TRUMP: — well, he was very nice to me, but after that, we've had some difficulties. So it doesn't matter. You know, words are less important to me than deeds and you — you saw what happened with surveillance and everybody saw what happened with surveillance —
DICKERSON: Difficulties how?
TRUMP: — and I thought that — well, you saw what happened with surveillance and I think that was inappropriate, but that's the way —
DICKERSON: What does that mean, sir?
TRUMP: You can figure that out yourself.
DICKERSON: Well, I — the reason I ask is you said he was — you called him “sick and bad.”
TRUMP: Look, you can figure it out yourself. He was very nice to me with words, but — and when I was with him — but after that, there has been no relationship.
DICKERSON: But you stand by that claim about him?
TRUMP: I don't stand by anything. I just — you can take it the way you want. I think our side's been proven very strongly. And everybody's talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed. I think that is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it's a very big topic. And it's a topic that should be number one. And we should find out what the hell is going on.
DICKERSON: I just wanted to find out, though. You're — you're the President of the United States. You said he was “sick and bad” because he had tapped you — I'm just —
TRUMP: You can take — any way. You can take it any way you want.
DICKERSON: But I'm asking you. Because you don't want it to be —
TRUMP: You don't —
DICKERSON: — fake news. I want to hear it from —
TRUMP: You don't have to —
DICKERSON: — President Trump.
TRUMP: — ask me. You don't have to ask me.
DICKERSON: Why not?
TRUMP: Because I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions.
DICKERSON: But I want to know your opinions. You're the president of the United States.
TRUMP: Okay, it's enough. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[CUTS BACK LIVE]
GAYLE KING: Well, he was done with that conversation.
DICKERSON: Yeah. He clearly thinks that President Obama — I mean, he talked about the warmth of their relationship. That's no longer the case. He thinks basically what he said before, which is that President Obama, as he wrote in that tweet, bugged him or tapped his — not bugged him but tapped his — tapped him is how he put it.
KING: It would be interesting to hear but he clearly didn't want to answer if question.
