President Donald Trump gave himself top grades on his performance in office, touted his relationship with French President Emmanuel Macron, and dished on his political rivals on Thursday during a wide-ranging Fox News interview.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy noted that Trump last year gave himself a grade of A for effort and C for messaging. He asked the president for his current assessment.
“I would give myself an A-plus. Nobody has done what I’ve been able to do, and I did it despite the fact that I have a phony cloud over my head that doesn’t exist,” he said. “It was what the Democrats used to try to make an excuse for their loss of an election, for their loss of the Electoral College that they should never lose.”
Trump gave the interview as his Department of Veterans Affairs nominee was withdrawing amid allegations of excessive drinking and overprescription of opioids.
Trump pronounced this week’s state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron a success. He said he and his counterpart got along well.
“And much more importantly, we accomplished a lot,” he said. “We really accomplished a lot — more than anyone knows.”
Pressed on specifics, Trump cited an area where the two men are far apart — the Iran nuclear deal. Macron reiterated his support for the pact during an address to Congress. But Trump said he left Macron with a different perspective.
“He is viewing, I believe, Iran a lot differently than he did before he walked into the Oval Office,” he said. “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.”
Trump noted that the deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama allowed Iran to receive $150 billion in assets that had been frozen — including $1.8 billion in cash delivered in pallets on an airplane.
“And all they do is scream, ‘Death to America. Death to America,'” he said. “And by the way, they’re not screaming it so much anymore … We haven’t seen their little boats circling our ships in the ocean.”
Trump distanced himself somewhat from his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who reportedly will assert his Fifth Amendment right not to talk to investigators who orchestrated a raid of his office, home, and hotel room.
The president said Cohen is a good man but that the investigation is about the lawyer’s business, not his legal work. Trump said he has nothing to do with Cohen’s business and that Cohen did little legal work for him.
“As a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny, little fraction,” he said. “But Michael would represent me and represent me on some things, like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me. And, you know, from what I see, he did nothing wrong.”
That was a reference to a porn star whom Cohen paid as part of a nondisclosure agreement, in which she promised not to talk about an affair she had with Trump.
The president ridiculed suggestions that the payment might have constituted an illegal campaign finance violation.
On efforts to strike a deal with North Korea, Trump revealed that CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s recent secret meetings with North Korean government officials initially was not supposed to include leader Kim Jong-un. But Trump said the two men spoke for more than an hour and got along well.
The president said the two sides are discussing three or four dates and five potential locations for a planned summit between the nations’ two leaders.
But Trump said he will take a hard line with North Korea and is not averse to ratcheting up pressure if a deal does not emerge.
“Look, Comey is a leaker, and he’s a liar. And not only on this stuff. He’s been leaking for years.”
“So, it could be that I walk out quickly — with respect, but it could be,” he said. “It could be that the meeting doesn’t even take place. Who knows? But I can tell you right now, they want to meet. They wanted to go to the Olympics.”
Also during the interview, Trump whacked a familiar target — former FBI Director James Comey. The president said he did “a great thing for the American people by firing him” last year.
“Look, Comey is a leaker, and he’s a liar. And not only on this stuff,” he said. “He’s been leaking for years. He’s probably been using his friend, the professor, who now turns out to have FBI clearance, which he never said. He even lied about that.”
Trump said Comey “put a lot of phony stuff” in memos he wrote documenting private conversations with the president.
Related: As VA Nominee Withdraws, Trump Offers Strong Defense
Asked why he complains about the Department of Justice (DOJ) when he heads the entire executive branch, the president cited the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign.
“I will wait until it is over. It’s a total — it’s all lies,” he said. “And it’s a horrible thing that’s going on. And yet I’ve accomplished, with all of this going on, more than any president in the first year in our history.”
Trump predicted that Republicans will do better in the midterm elections this year than experts believe. And he insisted that he is more popular than polling suggests.
“If I ever called for a rally in Washington, D.C., there’d be millions of people coming into Washington,” he said. “They love what’s happening.”
PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
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