Trump Calls for Probes Into Obama Book Deal, Clinton ‘Nonsense’

President Donald Trump with Vice President Mike Pence as former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden look on Trump's inauguration ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2017. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said that the records regarding former President Barack Obama’s book deal should be subpoenaed, along with other records, in addition to records having to do with former Secretary of State and failed presidential contender Hillary Clinton.

Trump noted that Congressional Democrats remain focused on investigating him, his administration, and his campaign even after special counsel Robert Mueller was unable to establish collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“They want to investigate, they want to go fishing and I watched Bob Mueller and they have nothing,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on July 26. “It’s a disgrace. We want to find out what happened to the last Democrat president. Let’s look into Obama the way they’ve looked into me. From day one they’ve looked into everything we’ve done.”

“They could look into the book deal that President Obama made. Let’s subpoena all of his records,” Trump added in a video clip gleefully shared by Turning Point USA official Benny Johnson. “Let’s subpoena all of the records having to do with Hillary Clinton and all of the nonsense that went on with Clinton and her foundation and everything else.”

According to Publisher’s Weekly, the reported $65 million book deal Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, inked in 2017 included few publicly released details. While Michelle Obama’s memoir was released in late 2018, Barack Obama’s book was pushed back to 2020.

Trump said last month that Obama “certainly must have known” that intelligence agencies were spying on his campaign.

“But you’re going to find that out. I’m not going to make that statement quite yet. But I would say that President Obama had to know about it,” Trump added.

He was later asked, “Do you believe that President Obama spied on your campaign?”

“I don’t know. But hopefully we’re going to find out,” Trump responded.

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Dec. 16, 2016. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A special federal prosecutor, meanwhile, was said in late May to be close to completing an investigation into Clinton.

The president spoke on Friday after a question from a report about House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) planning to use the committee to sue to try to enforce a subpoena against Don McGahn, former White House counsel.

“What they’re doing is a disgrace,” Trump said. “So destructive to our country, and I think that’s why we’re going to take back the House.”

Trump said that he campaigned mostly for Republican Senate candidates or senators up for reelection in the 2018 midterms, but indicated he'd focus more on the House in 2020.

Democrats hold a 241-194 House majority while Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate after gaining two seats in the midterms.

Hillary Clinton speaks in Baltimore on June 5, 2017. Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Trump also touched on China while speaking, telling reporters that the country has been making money off of the United States but that is not the case any longer.

“The money that China has taken out of the U.S. has rebuilt China and I don’t blame China, I blame the United States for allowing that to happen,” he said.

Trump said that Chinese officials—and Iran—likely want to wait to see if he wins reelection or they can deal with a Democrat president while championing the “tens of billions of dollars” that America has received through tarriffs.

“We haven’t even taxed China yet compared to what I could do,” he added.