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Former Democratic presidents haven’t spoken to Trump about Iran: Sources

2:33
Tensions escalate over Strait of Hormuz
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
ByBenjamin Siegel, Oren Oppenheim, Isabella Murray, and Ivan Pereira
March 17, 2026, 7:28 PM

The three living Democratic presidents have not been in touch with President Donald Trump about his attacking Iran, sources and their representatives told ABC News, despite his boast that one told him, "I wish I did what you did."

“I don’t want to get into ‘who,’ I don’t want to get him into trouble,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office, hinting he was referring to a Democrat.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, March 16, 2026, in Washington.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock

Asked by a Fox News reporter about the conversation, he declined to say who the former president was.

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"Was it George W Bush?" Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.

"No," Trump said.

"Was it Bill Clinton?," the reporter continued.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, March 16, 2026, in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

"I don't want to say. I don't want to say because," Trump responded

"Barack Obama?" the reporter asked.

"A member of a party, a member of a party and they have Trump Derangement syndrome," Trump responded. "But it's somebody that happens to like me. And I like that person who's a smart person. But that person said, 'I wish I did it.' Okay, but I don't want to get into who."

White House officials have not commented on the conversation Trump said he had.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, March 16, 2026, in Washington.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock

Sources and representatives close to former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton pushed back on Trump's assertion to ABC News.

An aide to former President Obama told ABC News Monday Obama has not spoken to Trump recently, when asked if they had talked about Iran or anything else since they were last together.

PHOTO: State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025.
President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, second row, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, his wife Laura Bush, former President Barack Obama, Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump attend the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Obama attended Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, and the two were seen chatting at former President Jimmy Carter's funeral earlier that month.

A source close to former President Clinton told ABC News Monday that Clinton has not spoken with Trump about the Iran strikes.

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Former President Biden did not speak with Trump about the strike on Iran either, according to a source familiar.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for international problems, including the conflicts between Israel and Gaza and Russian and Ukraine.

ABC News has reached out to representatives for President George W. Bush.

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