It was one of those days when President Trump just couldn’t help himself.
On Thursday, Trump held an event at the White House to unveil a push to end surprise medical bills, but the media availability quickly turned into a full-blown press conference on a wide range of issues. It was easy to forget the original purpose of the event as the President weighed in on the Mueller report, his own national security adviser and a subpoena issued to his son.
As Trump ranted about the Russia probe “hoax,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and others gathered behind the President could be seen smiling and chuckling. At other times, those gathered with Trump stood stone-faced as the President moved further and further away from the topic at hand.
Below we’ve gathered some of the wildest moment’s from Trump’s impromptu press conference.
Claim that John Kerry should be prosecuted
The President charged that Kerry has violated the Logan Act by speaking with Iran without the knowledge of Trump’s administration.
“John Kerry speaks to [Iran] a lot,” Trump said. “John Kerry tells them not to call. That’s a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly he should be prosecuted on that, but my people don’t want to do anything that’s— Only the Democrats do that kind of stuff.”
A spokesman for Kerry said that Trump’s claims were “simply wrong.”
Trump revives months-old attacks against John Kerry for meeting with Iranian foreign minister. pic.twitter.com/1SMqwoFKah
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 9, 2019
Trump apparently “tempers” John Bolton
Asked about his National Security Adviser John Bolton, the President said that he sometimes pulls Bolton back.
“He has strong views on things but that’s okay. I actually temper John, which is pretty amazing isn’t it?” Trump said. “I’m the one that tempers him. But that’s okay. I have different sides. I have John Bolton and I have other people that are a little more dovish than him.
A mysterious “picture file” of Mueller and Comey
Trump claimed that Mueller and former FBI Director James Comey are “best friends” with a bizarre reference to a “picture file” of the two.
“They were supposedly best friends,” Trump said. “You look at the picture file and you see hundreds of pictures of him and Comey.”
It’s not clear what Trump was talking about.
Citing a "picture file," Trump claims Mueller and James Comey are "best friends" pic.twitter.com/9TVYOlzPZT
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 9, 2019
A rant on Don Jr.’s subpoena
The President also weighed in on the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena issued to Donald Trump Jr. Trump said he was “surprised” by the demand for testimony from such a “very good person.”
“He’s now testified for 20 hours or something — massive amount of time. The Mueller report came out. That’s the bible. The Mueller report came out and they said he did nothing wrong,” Trump said before launching into an extensive rant about June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
More complaining about aid to Puerto Rico
At the end of the lengthy press conference, Trump lashed out at critics of his administration’s approach to helping Puerto Rico recover from a devastating hurricane.
“Just so you understand, we gave Puerto Rico $91 billion for the hurricane. That’s the largest amount of money ever given to any state — talking about states and Puerto Rico, a little different — $91 billion,” Trump said. “Texas got 30. Florida got 12. Puerto Rico got $91 billion. So I think the people of Puerto Rico should really like President Trump. Now that money was given by congress, but they got $91 billion.”
Trump’s $91 billion number is a bit misleading, however, because it represents an estimate for potential liabilities that will need to be committed over the course of the disaster under a certain disaster relief law — it is not the amount that the federal government has already paid out to assist Puerto Rico in its recovery.
