Trump tells Fox and Friends that he decided to do an interview with them because it's Melania's birthday. Asked what he got her, he pauses and says, "Maybe I didn't get her so much. I got her a beautiful card."
Trump explains that he got Melania flowers but not another gift because he's very busy being president.
"How about Diamond and Silk?" the president says. "There were these two women...beautiful, wonderful women..." He calls them "warriors."
Trump says Ronny Jackson is highly respected. He says Montana Sen. Jon Tester is going to have "a lot of problems" because he went after Ronny Jackson. He notes that he won Montana by many points.
Trump repeats his argument that "nobody has experience" to run an organization as giant as the VA so it doesn't matter that Ronny Jackson had basically no experience.
Trump is offering an extended agitated defence of Ronny Jackson AFTER Jackson drops out, saying he has an "unblemished" record. He didn't offer this kind of defence before Jackson dropped out.
Trump repeats his claim that "nobody's been even close to as tough as me" on Russia. "You can ask President Putin about that," he says.
Trump, very agitated, says he never told Comey he didn't stay overnight on that Russia trip. "I went to Russia for a day or so. A day or two...Of course I stayed there. I stayed there a very short period of time, but of course I stayed...I never said I left immediately."
Trump: "He is guilty of crimes. And if we had a Justice Department" that is doing its job...
Fox and Friends: "It's YOUR Justice Department!"
Trump: Because there's a "witch hunt," I've decided "I will not be involved in the Justice Department."
Fox and Friends: "It's YOUR Justice Department!"
Trump: Because there's a "witch hunt," I've decided "I will not be involved in the Justice Department."
Trump is shouting.
Trump says that Michael Cohen's issues aren't about him, they're about his business. "He's really a businessman...I don't know his business." "I have many attorneys." Cohen handles "a tiny, tiny little fraction" of his legal work, he says.
Trump says Kanye West likes him because he sees black unemployment at a record low.
Shockingly to me, the Fox and Friends people are asking some decent follow-up questions, interjecting more than some other interviewers have as Trump rants.
President Donald Trump on Republicans and African-Americans: If you go back to the Civil War, "it was the Republicans that really did the thing."
Trump: "If I ever called for a rally in Washington DC, we'd have millions of people."
He...had an inauguration in Washington DC with maybe 600,000 people.
He...had an inauguration in Washington DC with maybe 600,000 people.
Trump says Shania Twain is terrific but made a mistake in apologizing for publicly praising him.
For the eighth time in office, Trump falsely says Hillary Clinton earned 223 electoral votes rather than the 232 she did get. He says it would've been easy for him to win the popular vote but he didn't try because he knew he had to win the Electoral College.
Trump scoffs at people who said he was going to get the U.S. into a nuclear war with North Korea with his "Little Rocket Man" and "bigger button" talk: "The nuclear war would've happened if you had weak people. We had weak people."
Trump says Pompeo was with Kim Jong Un for "more than an hour." He then complains about "Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd," who he says shouldn't be the host of Meet the Press.
Trump says Fox News is "tough" on him, "but at least it's fair."
Trump rants about CNN panels that are biased against him.
Fox and Friends guy: I'm not your doctor, but I recommend you don't watch them.
Trump: "I don't watch them at all."
Fox and Friends guy: I'm not your doctor, but I recommend you don't watch them.
Trump: "I don't watch them at all."
Trump concedes he did watch the Comey event on CNN. He adds: "I will say this: Anderson Cooper was surprisingly tough. And he did a good job."
For the 16th time in office, Trump falsely claims the Electoral College is set up in a way that gives Democrats a major advantage.
For the sixth time, Trump falsely claims Andrew McCabe took $700,000 from a group linked to Terry McAuliffe. His wife's Virginia campaign got about that much in campaign donations. He did not get anything.
Fox and Friends wraps up the interview with a shouting, raging Trump.
One of the guys says: "I think...he was awake."
One of the guys says: "I think...he was awake."
The president shouted about a lot of important matters this morning, but this was by far the most memorable moment.
This was bizarre: Trump twice said he is basically boycotting his Justice Department because he's mad they're investigating him over a hoax (though he actually keeps making highly unusual efforts to influence the Justice Department).
I missed this significant Trump comment - he passingly said Michael Cohen "represented me" in the Stormy Daniels matter:
