Donald Trump admits he was happy to hear Hillary Clinton picked Tim Kaine as her running mate.
“[W]hat happened with the choice of Tim Kaine was a slap in the face to Bernie Sanders and everybody. I was shocked. I love it from my standpoint,” Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd in a pre-taped interview that airs Sunday.
“Well, first of all, he took over $160,000 of gifts. And they said, ‘Well, they weren’t really gifts, they were suits and trips and lots of different things,’ all for $160,000,” Trump added.
The Trump campaign blasted out an email to the press late Friday, bringing the media’s attention to the gifts Kaine has received while in office. The gifts were legal at the time Kaine was in office.
The Republican nominee compared Kaine to former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican who was dragged through the courts for accepting gifts, which quid pro quo proved were not bribes.
“Bob McDonnell took a fraction of what Kaine took. And I think, to me, it’s a big problem. Now, how do you take all these gifts? Hundreds of thousands of dollars. The other thing about him, he’s bought and owned by the banks,” Trump said.
The GOP leader said he expects Kaine to change his tone, possibly in a way that rationalizes his previous votes and why he has accepted free gifts and vacations as a lawmaker.
