Here Are 7 of the Most Unhinged Moments From Trump's Morning Presser

Here Are 7 of the Most Unhinged Moments From Trump's Morning Presser
Trump

President Donald Trump on Friday had an angry meltdown in front of reporters on the White House lawn, as he angrily ranted about his political foes, the media and the Mueller probe.


Trump's latest rant comes just two days after he delivered a similarly unhinged performance after his party lost the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, in which he attacked members of his own party who lost their seats because they didn't "embrace" him enough.

In the latest Trump press gaggle, the president spent a lot of time lashing out at critics of his decision to appoint loyalist Matthew Whitaker as his new acting attorney general -- including the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

Here are the seven craziest moments from Trump's long rant.

1.) Trump fumes that special counsel Robert Mueller was never confirmed by the Senate. In response to criticisms made by legal experts -- including Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano -- that Trump's appointment of Whitaker is illegitimate because he was not working at a Senate-confirmed position within the Department of Justice, Trump pivoted to attacking Mueller for not being confirmed by the Senate.

"Mueller was not Senate confirmed," the president fumed. "Why didn’t they get him Senate confirmed?"

Of course, Mueller was appointed by deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate and who has the authority to appoint special prosecutors without Senate oversight.

2.) Trump calls reporter April Ryan a "loser." Ryan, who was told to "sit down" by the president earlier this week, was once again attacked by the president for supposedly not showing him proper respect.

"I mean, you talk about somebody that's a loser," he said of Ryan. "She doesn't know what the hell she's doing."

Trump also called Ryan "very nasty" and said she "shouldn't be."

3.) Trump defends the White House's decision to promote a potentially doctored video produced by InfoWars. After Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders this week promoted a video created by right-wing conspiracy website InfoWars to attack CNN's Jim Acosta, one reporter asked Trump whether he was comfortable promoting a video that many experts say was doctored.

"Nobody manipulated it, give me a break!" Trump thundered. "That is just dishonest reporting, I watched that, I heard that last night... When you say 'doctored' you're a dishonest guy!"

4.) Trump attacks Michelle Obama and says he'll "never forgive" her husband. In a forthcoming book, the former first lady criticized Trump for his promotion of the "birther" conspiracy against her husband, and she said she'd "never forgive" him for it.

Trump responded by attacking former President Obama.

"I’ll never forgive him for what he did to our United States military by not funding it properly," he said. "It was depleted, everything was old and tired, and I came in and I had to fix it, and I’m in the process of spending tremendous amounts of money. So I’ll never forgive him for what he did to our military."

5.) Trump lies and claims that he knows nothing about the man whom he just appointed as acting attorney general. In response to criticism that Trump only appointed Whitaker as a way to short-circuit the Mueller probe, Trump tried to claim that he knew nothing about Whitaker's views prior to hiring him.

"I don't know Matt Whitaker," Trump claimed. "Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions. And he was always extremely highly thought of, and he still is. But I didn't know Matt Whitaker."

Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey, however, explains why this is flatly untrue.

"Trump, contra what he’s saying right now, does know Whitaker," Dawsey wrote on Twitter. "Many meetings in Oval. One reason he picked him was because he liked him so much, per several Trump aides. (And saw him as skeptical of Mueller probe.)"

6.) Trump attacks the spouse of his own White House adviser. The president was not happy to receive a question about George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway who wrote a scathing op-ed on Thursday that called Trump's appointment of Whitaker unconstitutional.

Trump responded by derisively referring to him as "Mr. Kellyanne Conway" and accused the conservative attorney of "just trying to get publicity for himself."

7.) Trump lashes out at a "stupid" CNN reporter who asked him whether he wanted Whitaker to kill the Mueller probe. When asked by CNN's Abby Phillip whether his decision to appoint Whitaker was based on his desire to rein in Mueller, Trump angrily attacked her.

"What a stupid question," the president responded. "I watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions."

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