After weeks of giving only brief comments to the media, Donald Trump made a series of public statements Wednesday. Flanked by staunch supporter, boxing promoter Don King, the president-elect dismissed days of tense remarks by the outgoing and incoming presidents about who would win if they were to hypothetically run against each other, saying he and Obama had “a very, very good talk.”
“We talked about it and smiled about it and nobody is ever going to know because we are never going to be going against each other,” Trump said.
Earlier, he had accused Obama of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the transition of power and said his administration was treating Israel with “total disdain.”
“Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition — NOT!”
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama phoned Trump.
“Today’s call, like the others since the election, was positive and focused on continuing a smooth and effective transition,” Schultz said. “The president and president-elect committed to staying in touch over the next several weeks.”
During his brief time before the press on outside his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump also applauded the return of 8,000 jobs to the U.S.
Trump touted plans by a Japanese mogul to bring those jobs to the United States. They could be the first of the 50,000 jobs tech billionaire Masayoshi Son promised to create after meeting with the president-elect earlier in December.
It was unclear whether the president-elect was referencing the previously announced commitment by Son to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs.
Son is the founder and chief executive of SoftBank, one of Japan’s largest technology outfits. He owns the U.S. mobile carrier Sprint, which Trump said Wednesday would be moving 5,000 jobs “back” to the United States. Son also controls OneWeb, which Trump said would hire 3,000 workers.
In the grand scheme of the economy, the jobs announcement is unlikely to have a major impact. Still, it’s another example of how Trump is trying to stoke voters’ belief that he is actively fighting for their well-being.
Meantime, Don King is regaled reporters with his own catchphrase, “Only in America,” and Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great again.”
He was carrying about a dozen Israeli and American flags and wearing two big diamond necklaces, one of the Star of David and one of the American flag.
Boxing promoter Don King appears alongside Trump during press briefing https://t.co/qEfSTpXb2j pic.twitter.com/p1LgaH9STq
— The Hill (@thehill) December 29, 2016
He is calling for “peace in the Middle East” and says he wants “everyone to come together as one unit and make things happen.”
King is also wearing a large pin featuring a picture of Trump.
(Source: AP/AURN)
