Obama says the CIA was right to tap Trump’s phone: "He's a Russian spy, people"

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Saturday, former President Barack Obama defended the Central Intelligence Agency's decision to tap failed presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's phone throughout the 2016 presidential election, saying the CIA only did so "because he's a Russian spy, people!"

In a rare post-presidency interview with CNN's Meryl Streep, Obama said, "How dumb do you have to be to not see that he's a Russian spy?"

He continued: "I know a lot of Democrats feel like my administration didn't do enough to combat Russia's attempts to steal the election from America's first woman president, Hillary Rodham Clinton," he said.

"At the time, I instructed the intelligence agencies not to leak all the crazy information they were learning about Putin's habit of calling Trump every six hours with offers of money, cyberwarfare, and prostitutes as part of their plan to overthrow American democracy. But the CIA sure as hell recorded those calls! That's what spy agencies do!" he said.

"Look, the transcripts prove that Trump is a traitor and a Russian puppet. But I didn't think the American people needed to know that, because Trump's also a racist sexual predator who's mentally ill, bad with money, and mean. I trusted the American people to see that come election day," he said.

Obama's trust proved well-placed as Clinton eventually defeated Trump last November by 3 million votes.