Newt Gingrich praised former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday for her Tuesday victory speech after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Gingrich lauded Clinton’s “spectacular” speech to supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, calling it “very effective” during a Facebook Live video he did in San Francisco, where he was attending a conference.
“Let me first say that I thought Hillary Clinton’s speech last night was very effective,” the former House speaker said to those tuning in.
“No conservative, no Republican should assume that she’s going to be a pushover,” Gingrich said of Clinton. “I think she’s going to be formidable. She has, of course, the FBI investigation and the scandals and all those things weighing her down.”
“We should not assume that the Clintons have any track record of defeating themselves,” Gingrich added. “I think she deserves a lot of credit, [as the] first woman to become the nominee of a major party. She gave a spectacular speech last night that laid out how she’s going to campaign, what she’s going to try to do.”
“I think that the Republicans in general and the Trump folks in particular are really going to have to think through how they’re going to deal with it,” Gingrich added.
Over the past week, Gingrich has become critical of Trump, specifically for his recent attacks against Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the judge who is presiding in the Trump University case.
Gingrich recently declared the attacks against the judge to be “one of the worst mistakes” Trump has made thus far.
“This judge was born in Indiana. He is an American. Period,” Gingrich told “Fox News Sunday.” “When you come to America, you get to become an American. And Trump, who has grandparents who came to the U.S., should understand this as much as anybody.”
“Trump has got to move to a new level,” Gingrich continued. “This is no longer the primaries. He’s no longer an interesting contender. He is now a potential leader of the United States, and he’s got to move his game up to the level of being a potential leader.”
