- President Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre, where he campaigned for Rep. Lou Barletta, who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
President Trump delivered remarks tonight at a rally for Rep. Lou Barletta in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
During his speech, Trump touched on his meeting last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the upcoming midterm elections and his new strategy for getting funding to build a border wall.
Remember when President Trump got good press? He does.
He waxed nostalgically about those heady New York tabloid days — after spending much of the night railing against the media.
He continued: "I didn’t need this, but I love it."
It was a momentary riff in a speech that ran more than an hour. But in the next breath, he called the press "horrible, horrendous people."
President Trump raised the prospect of coming to Pennsylvania to watch a debate in the Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican congressman Lou Barletta.
"Is the President of the United States allowed to come and sit in the front row?" Trump asked.
Campaigning for Barletta tonight, Trump repeatedly assailed Casey, who is favored in the race.
He seemed to be joking about attending a debate, but who knows.
President Trump came up with an interesting way to get his border wall while holding a rally in Pennsylvania: Reverse psychology.
The President told the crowd he'll tell Democrats he doesn't want to build a wall — and then, "they'll insist on building it."
It was the beginning of a familiar ICE, immigration, border wall segment of his rally.
Trump defended ICE officers, calling them "warriors" and slammed Democrats.
Trump said he would be "taking some very tough actions."
"We need border security. We need border security," Trump said.
President Trump said he'd be willing to push the government into a shutdown — either before the midterm elections in November or afterward — if Congress does not change the US immigration laws.
"In Helsinki, I had a great meeting with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. We got along really well," Trump said. "By the way, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Now, we’re being hindered by the Russian hoax — it’s a hoax, ok?"
As he defended his summit with Putin — which even many of his most staunch supporters called a debacle — Trump attacked the press and made no mention of election meddling.
Trump defended his meeting with Putin, suggesting the criticism was a creation of the press.
The President did not mention how the Wall Street Journal editorial page and other conservative voices assailed his Putin meeting.
So far at least, his grievance-filled speech in Wilkes-Barre has not touched on one thing: Russian election hacking.
President Trump responded to a "lock her up" chant in Pennsylvania by saying, "Oh no. no. They only want to go after Republicans," appearing to refer to the Justice Department.
"They don't want to do anything," Trump said, adding that things would be changing soon.
President Trump, while endorsing Senate candidate Lou Barletta, slammed his opponent and current Sen. Bob Casey, saying he had never met him.
Trump called Casey "worse" than an obstructionist, adding that he would do whatever House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Chuck Schumer and Rep. Maxine Waters tell him.
Trump said Barletta is running "against somebody who's so overrated."