Responding to tweet from President Donald Trump stating that he was working diligently to gain the release of three hostages being kept captive in North Korea that he claims the Obama administration ignored, CNN host Alisyn Camerota called out the president for lying.
Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted: "As everybody is aware, the past Administration has long been asking for three hostages to be released from a North Korean Labor camp, but to no avail. Stay tuned!"
Speaking with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the CNN host immediately ripped into the president, noting two of the hostages were taken during his time in office.
Saying "Some of it needs to fact-checked," host Camerota read Trump's tweet to Clapper, before adding, "That makes no sense because two of these hostages were taken while President Trump was in office -- only one was when President Obama was."
With Clapper stating he believes Trump being successful in securing the release would be a very "positive development," Camerota agreed -- but once again challenged the president on his claim.
"Listen, any way you slice it, this is great," the CNN host conceded. "Getting Americans home -- this is a positive development -- there's no other way to see it. Whoever's watch it happens on on, it is wonderful and a feather in their cap. However, facts matter. It leads us to what we can trust and this is a far cry from the Stormy Daniels situation. But why is he making this mistake and trying to pin this on President Obama?"
"Well, I think anything and all that he can, it appears to me, he will pin on President Obama and find fault with even if it stretches the truth which is the case here," Clapper replied. "This is a consistent thing he does and it's regrettable. It detracts from his credibility as president even when it's a good thing happening."
"It is is kind of Orwellian, where the Minister of Information says 'up is down, black is white, war is peace, et cetera,'" he added. "It is very disconcerting."
According to USA Today, one hostage, Kim Dong-Chul was grabbed by the North Koreans in 2015, while Tony Kim and Kim Hak-Song were picked up in April and May, 2017, respectively -- well after Trump was elected president.
Watch the video below via CNN:
