Newt Gingrich on Thursday said he “goofed” by saying a day earlier that President-elect Trump had discarded his “drain the swamp” mentality.
“I want to report that I made a big boo boo,” the former speaker said in a video he posted online. “I talked this morning with President-elect Donald Trump. He reminded me he likes draining the swamp. I mischaracterized it the other day. He intends to drain the swamp. He even describes it as ‘DTS.'”
Trump issued a social media repudiation earlier on Thursday that appeared to be aimed squarely at Gingrich, who has been an ally to the incoming president.
Someone incorrectly stated that the phrase “DRAIN THE SWAMP” was no longer being used by me. Actually, we will always be trying to DTS.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016
During an interview with NPR on Wednesday, Gingrich said he had been informed by the Trump team that the president-elect had moved on from using the phrase, which became a rallying cry in the final weeks of Trump’s campaign.
Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager who plans to open up a consulting firm just down the street from the White House, said Thursday that the president-elect likely prioritizes job creation more than draining the swamp.
Trump has spoken publicly about how he thought the phrase was cheesy when it was first proposed to him, but has joked that he learned to embrace “drain the swamp” after watching crowds react so favorably to it.
In his video Thursday, Gingrich added: “So I want all of you to know: I goofed. Draining the swamp is in. The alligators should be worried.”
