President Donald Trump says he’s losing great sums of money as president and that the job is a “loser” for him financially.
In an Oval Office interview he gave to the New York Times, Trump lamented all the money he’s having to forego while serving as head of state:
“I lost massive amounts of money doing this job. This is not the money. This is one of the great losers of all time. You know, fortunately, I don’t need money. This is one of the great losers of all time. But they’ll say that somebody from some country stayed at a hotel. And I’ll say, ‘Yeah.’ But I lose, I mean, the numbers are incredible.”
Asked about the ongoing negotiations of a bipartisan Congressional committee that’s attempting to reach a compromise on his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall, Trump sounded pessimistic, calling the debate a “waste of time.”:
“I think Nancy Pelosi is hurting our country very badly by doing what she’s doing and, ultimately, I think I’ve set the table very nicely. I’ve set the table. I’ve set the stage for doing what I’m going to do.”
Does that mean the president will declare a national emergency as a way of getting what he wants? Trump responded to that query by noting:
“I’ve actually always gotten along with her (Pelosi), but now I don’t think I will anymore. I think she’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country. If she doesn’t approve a wall, the rest of it’s just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed.”
When the topic turned to the Russia investigation, Trump repeated a frequent talking point of his: That he’s not personally under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller:
“Rod told me I’m not a target of the investigation. The lawyers ask him. They say, ‘He’s not a target of the investigation.’”
And Trump also maintained that his intelligence chiefs see eye to eye on the issues of Syria, Iran, North Korea, and ISIS:
“They said, ‘Sir, our testimony was totally mischaracterized.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And when you read their testimony and you read their statements, it was mischaracterized by the media.”
The testimony from the heads of the top U.S, intelligence agencies, it should be noted, was carried live on multiple cable news channels, seriously undercutting the president’s claims that the media was responsible for any disagreement between Trump and those who are charged with protecting the country.
Featured Image Via the BBC
