In an interview with Fox News released today, the president said that Obama officials bear responsibility for the oversight — not his own administration, which tapped Flynn for the post.

“He was approved by the Obama administration at the highest level. And when they say we didn’t vet, well, Obama, I guess, didn’t vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration,” Trump said. “So when he came into our administration, for a short period of time, he came in, he was already approved by the Obama administration and he had years left on that approval.”

Flynn resigned from the post in February.

Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Oversight Committee say Flynn may have broken the law by accepting the payments for giving a speech to Russian state television and lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said in a statement that “by all appearances” Flynn violated that law, and asked the secretary of the Army to “make a final determination” on whether Flynn broke it.