HERSHEY, Pa. — President-elect Trump attacked White House press secretary Josh Earnest Thursday night after Earnest criticized Trump for claiming Russia did nothing to interfere with the November presidential election.
“This foolish guy, Josh Earnest, I don’t know if he’s talking to President Obama,” Trump said. “You know, having the right press secretary — so important, because he is so bad the way he delivers a message.”
“He can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad,” Trump said. “He could say ‘ladies and gentlemen, today we have totally defeated ISIS,’ and it wouldn’t sound good.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, Earnest used the White House press briefing to address Trump, who openly wondered why the White House waited until after the election to make accusations against the Russians. Earnest said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the hacks of Democratic emails, and said Trump knew all about it.
“Mr. Trump obviously knew that Russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity that was helping him and hurting Secretary Clinton’s campaign,” Earnest told reporters.
Hershey was Trump’s latest stop in his “thank you” tour, and he also used it to weigh in on the ongoing conflict in Syria as the Assad regime continues its takeover of rebel-held Eastern Aleppo.
“When I look at what’s going on in Syria, it’s so sad. It’s so sad, and we’ve got to help people,” Trump said.
Like his previous tour stops, Trump spent much of his speech thanking supporters in Pennsylvania for delivering their 20 electoral votes, describing them as “wild beasts” and “crazed people” prior to the election who were constantly chanting “lock her up.”
Trump was in the holiday spirit, booming into the microphone “Merry Christmas, everybody!” to kick off his speech. The crowd was into the festive atmosphere as multiple patrons dressed as Santa Claus, while one even held a sign reading “SANTA VOTED TRUMP.”
Trump spent a significant portion of his speech rehashing the election victory, including his win in Pennsylvania, which put him over the 270 marker late into Election Night, vowing to win the state by an even larger margin in 2020.
The president-elect has two remaining stops on his tour. He’ll visit Orlando, Fla. Friday night, and will finish on Saturday afternoon in Mobile, Ala.
