President Donald Trump called in to his favorite program on Thursday to rail against the “false allegations” of misconduct that forced Ronny Jackson, his nominee for secretary of veterans affairs, to withdraw from consideration earlier that morning.
“He would’ve done a great job; he’s got tremendous heart,” Trump said on Fox & Friends on Fox News. Jackson, currently the White House physician, has faced wide-ranging accusations of professional misconduct, from drinking on the job to improperly dispensing prescription medication. “And these are all false accusations. They’re trying to destroy a man. By the way, I did say welcome to Washington, welcome to the swamp, welcome to the world of politics.”
Trump also warned of political consequences for Montana senator Jon Tester, who spearheaded congressional resistance to Jackson’s nomination this week.
“For Jon Tester to start bringing up stuff like ‘candy man’ and the kind of things he was saying, and then say ‘well, you know, these are just statements that are made.’ There’s no proof of this. And he has a perfect record,” Trump said. “I think Jon Tester has to have a big price to pay in Montana.”
Trump treated the “Fox & Friends” crew to a freewheeling interview Thursday morning. And as is often the case when the president is among his supporters, he didn’t hold back, firing off eye-popping remarks on subjects ranging from his opinion of the FBI to his conversations about the Iran nuclear deal with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The president’s relationship with Michael Cohen, his longtime attorney/fixer who came under fire for making a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels immediately before the 2016 election and was raided earlier this month by the FBI? “As a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little fraction. But Michael would represent me on some things; he represents me with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, and you know from what I see he did absolutely nothing wrong.” (Trump’s admission that Cohen represented him with regard to Daniels was particularly noteworthy, given that both men have denied that Trump knew about the payment to Daniels at the time.)
His opinion of the FBI investigations into Cohen and former campaign adviser Paul Manafort, who is facing a dizzying pile of charges for conspiracy, fraud, and illegal foreign lobbying supported by a mountain of hard evidence and the testimony of his long-time partner Richard Gates? “That’s not the FBI, that’s a fix.”
His impression of his talks with President Macron, who has apparently despaired of persuading Trump to stay in the Iran deal and resigned himself to getting Trump to agree to an improved deal that preserves as much of the original as possible? “I think he really came to recognize, I can say from my standpoint, he is viewing I believe Iran a lot differently than he was before he walked into the Oval Office, and I think that’s important. He understands where I’m coming from with respect to Iran: Iran is a real problem for this country.”
