Donald Trump denied during a town hall in New Hampshire Thursday night that the event, added to his schedule less than 24 hours prior, was organized as a trial run ahead of the second presidential debate this coming Sunday.
“Even tonight they said Donald Trump is going to New Hampshire to practice for Sunday,” Trump told the invitation-only crowd while responding to a question about his running mate’s performance in the vice presidential debate earlier this week.
“This has nothing to do with Sunday and it’s like they make you into a child,” said the Republican presidential nominee.
Trump went on to claim that the event was “set up a little while ago,” but his campaign had planned to cancel it in order to give him time to prep for the second debate, which will mimic a town hall forum.
“They were going to cancel it and I said, ‘Why are you going to cancel it?’ And they said ‘Well, you wanted debate prep.’ I said ‘forget debate prep,'” Trump told the crowd.
“Do you really think Hillary Clinton is prepping for four days? Hillary Clinton is resting,” he said, taking a jab at his Democratic opponent. “She’s resting [because] she wants to build up her energy for Sunday night and you know what, that’s fine.”
Trump continued, “But the narrative is so foolish. I love the people of New Hampshire. I said I was going to do it and I’m doing it.”
Trump also slammed members of the media who had reported that he was frustrated by Mike Pence’s standout performance in Tuesday’s debate. He specifically criticized CNBC’s John Harwood, who claimed a senior Trump adviser had said the billionaire “can’t stand to be upstaged” after watching Pence debate Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.
“He said Donald Trump was at first happy and then he was unhappy because Mike Pence did so well,” Trump recalled. “Unhappy? We were jumping up and down.”
“I was telling Chris [Christie], can you imagine these people were saying I would have loved to have seen [Pence] not do well because that makes me look better?” he continued. “I was so happy, and I can give you my word on this.”
Trump will face Clinton for the second of three presidential debates at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., on Sunday. The open forum will be co-moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
