During a White House tour, President Donald Trump told visitors that his predecessor, Barack Obama, watched basketball from the private dining room off the Oval Office, The Washington Post reported, citing four sources.
“He just sat in here and watched basketball all day”, Trump allegedly said.
The 45th president of the United States reportedly told guests that he had found the dining room in “rough shape” when he moved into the White House in January 2017, and added that there had been a hole in the wall.
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An unnamed Obama official, however, appeared to dismiss the reported remarks, telling The Washington Post that President Obama rarely used the dining room for work and didn’t watch sports there. The source also said that there was no hole in the wall.
— JJ the Santa Barbarian (@cookiesinheaven) 28 January 2019
In the meantime, ex-FLOTUS Michelle Obama revealed in her memoir, entitled “Becoming” that her husband would “sometimes” join staff in the kitchen “if there was a college basketball game playing on the TV in the evening”.
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While Trump has yet to confirm or deny the remark, social media users were quick to accuse him of lying all the time. They branded him “liar-in-chief”, while pointing out that basketball games are usually on at night:
1. There aren't very many basketball games on during the day
— Jamanders #Resist 🗽🌈💜 (@jamanders5468) 29 January 2019
2. Trump always accuses others what he is guilty of
3. Obama actually did his job, unlike the lazy ass we have now.
Basketball is on at night! I’m sure when the President said that he wasn’t Implying that Obama was a lazy President wasting time watching a sport that has a lot of black players. #Resist #Liar-in-chief
— Chuck Sparks (@ChuckSparks13) 29 January 2019
Basketball isn’t on all day, although I wish it was. In fact, it’s only played here October — June, primarily at night. So, yeah. Another fable.
— M-Theory 🔎 (@m_theoryatx) 29 January 2019
Liar In Chief 💯
— La Mayi Smith (@LaMayiSmith1) 30 January 2019
Easy rebuttal here, cause it is well documented that @BarackObama likes basketball. Other than the college tourneys, what basketball could he watch during the day?! Also, his schedules were public and packed! No mention of executive time anywhere.
— M.H.L (@MHLefaucheux) 28 January 2019
I believe at this point it’s pathological, I mean this dude literally can’t stop lying.
— Carmen Hamm (@h2obaby899) 29 January 2019
One netizen noted that Trump himself was a huge fan of sports: per GolfNewsNet’s info (as of 1 September 2018), Trump has been on the grounds of his golf courses or played golf elsewhere 154 since assuming office on 20 January 2017:
Unlikely, but what makes this laughable is how often Trump plays golf.
— Donald Treehorn (@82_and_0) 28 January 2019
Other Twitterians ridiculed the “hole” part of the story:
That hole, it's called a Fireplace.
— One Broke Note (@jasonr1972g) 29 January 2019
Have Mexico pay to patch up the wall
— 0xdeadbeef (@hamarchy2) 29 January 2019
The newspaper also made a reference to a new book by former White House communications staffer Cliff Sims, who wrote that Trump often showed guests around the presidential residence.
Before Trump moved into the official residence, media reported that a journalist and eight or nine other people heard him call the White House a “real dump” compared to his New Jersey country club.
Back then, Trump took to Twitter deny the claim, having described the White House as “one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen”.
I love the White House, one of the most beautiful buildings (homes) I have ever seen. But Fake News said I called it a dump — TOTALLY UNTRUE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 3 August 2017
Ever since the beginning of his presidential term, the White House and the lion’s share of the US media have been at loggerheads. Trump has been consistently blasting media outlets for biased and inaccurate coverage of his administration, calling fake news “the enemy of the people”.
