President Donald Trump delivered a crazed rant on the White House lawn before heading to Colorado — and here are the wildest moments.
The president lashed out at special counsel Robert Mueller, after his first public remarks in two years, and claimed exoneration in the Russia investigation, and he seemed to grow angrier and angrier as the impromptu news conference went on.
These are the most bizarre moments from the president’s remarks:
1. Trump appeared to accidentally confirm in a Thursday morning tweet that Russia helped him get elected, but he immediately walked that back when asked by reporters: “Russia did not help me get elected,” he said. “You know who got me elected? I got me elected.”
2. The president called Mueller a “true never-Trumper” and “totally conflicted person” because the special counsel asked for, but did not receive, a partial refund for membership fees to a Trump-branded golf course eight years ago. “Some of the worst human beings on Earth,” Trump called Mueller’s team. “They got nothing.”
3. Trump insisted he had nothing to do with moving a warship named after the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), whom he then attacked at length. “I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form,” Trump said. “He killed health care. I was never a fan, but I would never do anything like that (cover up references to his name). But someone did that, and they were well-meaning. But I would never do anything like that.”
4. The president insisted the courts would protect him from impeachment. “I can’t imagine the courts allowing it,” he said.
5. Claimed broad, unspecified powers under Article II of the Constitution, which establishes the president as chief executive. “Some day you ought to read a thing called Article II,” he told reporters. “Read Article II, which gives the president powers that you wouldn’t believe. But I don’t even have to rely on Article II. There was no crime.”
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