Trump attacks his detractors during lengthy CPAC speech
OXON HILL, Md. — President Donald Trump capped a tumultuous week by reveling in the embrace of conservative activists Saturday, deriding investigations of him, repeatedly complaining about coverage of his crowd sizes and abruptly announcing an executive order to mandate protection of free speech on college campuses.
In his remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which stretched beyond two hours, Trump also mocked the “Green New Deal” proposals promoted by liberals to address climate change, disparaged his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions with a faux Southern accent and defended his move to declare a national emergency to secure money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall that was denied by Congress.
“You know, I’m totally off script, right?” Trump said at the outset of his extended speech. “This is how I got elected, by being off script ... and if we don’t go off script, our country is in big trouble, folks.”
But the Russia probe and those leading it drew the biggest ire and even profanity from the president, as investigations ramp up in Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller continues his probe into potential collusion between Trump associates and Moscow.
“So now they go and morph into, let’s inspect every deal he’s ever done,” Trump complained. Nicknaming House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as “Little Shifty Schiff,” Trump continued: “These people are sick. They’re sick.”
Noting that “you put the wrong people in a couple of positions,” Trump added: “And they leave people for a long time that shouldn’t be there and all of a sudden they are trying to take you out with bulls---, OK?” Trump said.
Trump’s speech zigzagging from trade to immigration, the 2016 campaign to last fall’s midterm elections came against the backdrop of the collapse of his summit with North Korea and the extraordinary congressional testimony from his former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.
Trump mentioned his call during the 2016 campaign for Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails, although he suggested that he was being sarcastic at the time and criticized the news media for coverage of those remarks.
Few targets were spared in Trump’s wide-ranging speech, which included jabs at various unnamed Republican senators, his potential Democratic challengers in 2020 and a swipe at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Trump has repeatedly slammed Powell for raising interest rates too quickly.
He also dismissed one prominent argument from Republicans on his recent decision to declare a national emergency to redirect federal funds for his border wall.
Trump mocked the Green New Deal’s climaterelated provisions, deriding the set of ideas as promoting “no planes, no energy.”
“When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric,” Trump said, before launching into an impression. “‘Darling, is the wind blowing today? I’d like to watch television, darling.’ ”