Donald Trump on Friday said that President Barack Obama bore some responsibility for the UK’s historic decision to leave the European Union.
The presumptive GOP nominee, in Scotland for the opening of his Turnberry golf course, accused Obama of meddling in Britain’s affairs for supporting Prime Minister David Cameron’s failed effort to convince UK voters to stay.
“I was surprised that President Obama would come here and be so bold as to tell the people what to do and I think that a lot of people don’t like him and I think if he had not said it I think your result might have been different,” Trump told reporters. “But when he said it, people were not happy about it, and I thought it was totally inappropriate.”
He repeated the claim later in the press conference, saying “I actually think that his recommendation perhaps caused it to fail.”
Obama traveled to London in April to meet with Cameron, and the pair gave a joint press conference against the Brexit.
Trump applauded his own foresight in correctly predicting the results of the vote. As he did on Twitter Friday morning soon after news of the narrow “leave” victory came in, he likened the result to the support for his anti-immigration, isolationist platform.
Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2016
“I felt it wouldn’t stay together and again I think that’s what’s happening in the United States,” he said. “It’s not staying together. It’s a really positive force taking place. They want to take their country back. The people want their country back. We don’t want to lose our jobs, our borders.”
Scotland actually voted 62-38 to remain in the EU, but was outvoted by England and Wales.
As recently as June 1, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term “Brexit,” but he has maintained throughout the last few months that he thought a departure would be beneficial for the UK.
