Donald Trump said on Monday during a Cabinet meeting that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un prefers communicating with him to dealing with his predecessor, President Barack Obama, claiming Obama tried unsuccessfully eleven times to get Kim to take his phone calls.

“I like him, he likes me. We get along. I respect him, he respects me,” the president said of the despot who he has met in person three times.

Trump said Obama had cautioned him during their transfer of power that North Korea’s nuclear ambition was “the biggest problem. I don’t know how to solve it.”

“He told me he doesn’t know how to solve it. I said, “Did you ever call him?” No,” Trump continued. “Actually, he tried. Eleven times. But the man on the other side, the gentleman on the other side, did not take his call. Okay? Lack of respect. But he takes my call.”

Ben Rhodes, National Security Council spokesman under Obama, tweeted an hour later that “Trump is a serial liar and not well,” and insisted the outreach Trump described “never” happened.

Obama never called Kim Jong Un. Obama never tried to meet Kim Jong Un. Trump is a serial liar and not well. https://t.co/JSXlII6bK6

— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) October 21, 2019

The president has made a similar claim in the past, saying in June that Obama had wanted to meet Kim but his administration failed to arrange it.

“President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him,'” Trump said during a June joint press conference in Seoul with South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

“The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly. And Chairman Kim would not meet with him.”

President Trump: "President Obama wanted to meet and Chairman Kim would not meet him. The Obama Administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly and Chairman Kim would not meet with him. And for some reason, we have a certain chemistry." pic.twitter.com/SKlmZmEHT6

— The Hill (@thehill) June 30, 2019

Susan Rice, an Obama-era national security adviser, tweeted at the time: “At the risk of stating the obvious, this is horse-sh*t.”

Obama did say in 2007 as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination that “I would” be willing to meet Kim “without precondition. There’s no evidence, however, that such a meeting was ever contemplated after he took office in 2009.

Former NBA player Dennis Rodman, who built a friendship with Kim Jong Un, said in 2013 after meeting him that he wanted Obama to reach out.

“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told ABC News at the time. “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me,” Rodman claimed.