posted 02-20-2018 09:43 AM                  

President Trump on Tuesday turned a 2016 quote from then-President Barack Obama against him in the ongoing battle over Russian interference in the election -- claiming it shows Democrats are using the meddling as a belated “excuse” for losing.

Trump cited remarks made by Obama at a press conference with then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi just weeks before the election, in which Obama advised then-candidate Trump to “stop whining” about potential election rigging.

"There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, in part because they’re so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved,” Obama said.

Trump tweeted that quote Tuesday morning, citing it as proof Democrats’ attitudes changed after he won the election.

"When I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems," he tweeted shortly after the Obama quote was cited on 'Fox & Friends.'

TRUMP tWEET..The President Obama quote just before election. That’s because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to “rock the boat.” When I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems.

Obama was addressing Trump claims that voter fraud within the U.S. could affect the election, not Russian meddling. But Trump seized on the words Tuesday to put them into the current context of Russian election meddling.