Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign with a major fundraiser at his own hotel in Washington Wednesday night, excluding media but charging attendees $35,000 each.
While the president may have barred reporters from his closed door gathering, his battle with the press wasn’t far from his mind. During his speech, according to audio of the event published here by The Intercept, he singled out the network CNN, asking the audience whether he ought to sue what he described as “horrible human beings,” and drawing loud applause with his suggestion that “boy did CNN get killed over the last few days.”
He then turned his attention to the subject of CNN commentator Van Jones, who Trump noted was recently captured on secretly recorded audio calling the story of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia a “nothing burger.”
“Van Jones–you see this man?” said Trump. “These are really dishonest people. Should I sue them? I mean, they’re phonies. Jeff Zucker, I hear he’s going to resign at some point pretty soon. I mean these are horrible human beings.”
“It’s a shame what they’ve done to the name CNN, that I can tell you. But as far as I’m concerned, I love it. If anybody’s a lawyer in the house and thinks I have a good lawsuit,” Trump quipped. “Wouldn’t that be fun? How does the president of the United States sue somebody?”
The president went on to reference recent political developments and his coming agenda, promising tax cuts and a strengthened military. On health care, Trump was less than enthusiastic about the chance of success for the congressional Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act
“I think we’re going to have a good shot,” Trump said, using the opportunity to bash the current law, citing premium increases. Democrats, Trump said, are “stuck with Obamacare,” which Trump called “dead” and a “disaster.”
Trump took the opportunity to praise his record throughout his remarks, boasting of decreased border crossing figures and a string of special congressional election victories, claiming, “I don’t think anybody as president has done as much in the first five months.”
During the speech, Trump made light of rapidly escalating tensions between a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and their effort to isolate Qatar — a rift that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has attempted to mediate in recent days.
“We’re having a dispute with Qatar, we’re supposed to say Qatar,” mocking the pronunciation of the country. “It’s Qatar, they prefer. I prefer that they don’t fund terrorism.”
Listen here:
Richard Eskow, host of the Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, contributed reporting.