Donald Trump bounced from one topic to the next during a news conference Wednesday morning with his trademark combativeness and propensity for courting controversy.
He opened by bashing Hillary Clinton for not holding a news conference in months and generated headlines by urging Russia to uncover Clinton’s deleted emails.
But that’s not all Trump had to say:
1. Attention, Russian hackers
Trump said the DNC hackers are “probably not” from Russia. But the real estate mogul said if they were, it would prove the country has “little respect” for the US.
Still, he put in a request:
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens. That’ll be next.”
2. Jon Lovitz impersonation
Trump said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook’s accusation on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Russia was behind the hacks was on par with Jon Lovitz’ famous “pathological liar” sketch.
Trump said: “(Mook) said, ‘We think it was Russia that hacked.’ And then … he said, ‘Could be Trump, yeah, yeah. Trump, Trump, oh yeah, Trump.’ He reminded me of John Lovitz for ‘Saturday Night Live’ in ‘The Liar’ where he’d go ‘Yeah, yeah, I went to Harvard, Harvard, yeah, yeah.’ This is the guy, you have to see it. ‘Yeah, it could be Trump, yeah, yeah.’ So it is so far-fetched. It’s so ridiculous. Honestly I wish I had that power. I’d love to have that power but Russia has no respect for our country.”
3. Anthony Weiner — ‘Sleazeball’
Not only should Clinton be denied security briefings because of her private server scandal, Trump argued, but also because she has ties to former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned in disgrace in 2011 after a sexting scandal.
“I mean her No. 1 person, Huma Abedin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who’s a sleazeball and a pervert. And I’m not saying that, I mean that’s recorded history, right? I don’t like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets, OK?”
4. More on Weiner
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., gave an impressive speech last week at the GOP convention that had some wondering if he might run for mayor of New York City. To that idea, former mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner — who ran unsuccessfully in 2013 — said the only thing that would make him come out of retirement is if a Trump ran for mayor.
The current GOP presidential nominee swatted back the notion that his son might run, and weighed in on Weiner’s comments.
“Anthony Weiner is a proven loser, I mean, look how he’s locked up in a room. They lock him up in a room, they don’t let him out,” Trump said. “My son doesn’t want to run for mayor. He has no intention of running for mayor.”
5. Trump and Putin
Asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta whether Trump should call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay out of this election, Trump said he’s not going to give Putin any orders.
“I’m not going to tell Putin what to do. Why should I tell Putin what to do? He already did something today where he said don’t blame them, essentially, for your incompetence. Let me tell you, it’s not even about Russia or China or whoever it is that’s doing the hacking. It was about the things that were said in those emails. They were terrible things, talking about Jewish, talking about race, talking about atheist, trying to pin labels on people — what was said was a disgrace.”
6. Dem VP pick Tim Kaine … of New Jersey?
As he’s been doing the past few days, Trump tried to paint Kaine as an unpopular figure from his home state, except Trump slipped up on where exactly Kaine was from.
“Her running mate is Tim Kaine, who, by the way, did a terrible job in New Jersey. The first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion dollar tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey, and he still isn’t.”
After a couple of reporters corrected him, Trump clarified: “I mean Virginia.”
7. France is no longer France
Citing the brutal slaughter of the French priest and gruesome attack in Nice during his press conference, Trump argued that France is no longer the country it used to be.
“A friend of mine, he said he was going to France, like three, four months ago. I saw him yesterday. I said how’d you like France? He said, ‘I wouldn’t go to France. I wouldn’t go to France.’ Because France is no longer France. France is no longer France.”
8. “Zero” – the number of Russian investments Trump says he has
With Trump refusing to release his tax returns, some are wondering whether he has some important business deals in Russia –thereby giving more meat to the idea that Russia was trying to help Trump out with the DNC hack, critics argue.
Pressed repeatedly Wednesday on whether he has any investments there, an exasperated Trump said: “I have nothing to do with Russia!”
“I said that Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama, but who doesn’t know that?” he said.
“Zero, I mean I will tell you right now, zero, I have nothing to do with Russia,” he added.
9. Everything is out of date
Trump has been critical of the Geneva Conventions in the past, but on Wednesday, when a reporter asked him if the protocols are “out of date,” he agreed.
“I think everything’s is out of date. We have a whole new world,” he said, later reaffirming that he believes in enhanced interrogations. “By the way, it works.”
10. “I would renegotiate so much of everything”
Pressed specifically on what he would change about the Geneva Conventions, Trump declined to get into the details.
“I would renegotiate so much of everything. I’m going to renegotiate our trade deals where we’re losing with everybody, Katy. I’m going to renegotiate our military deals where we’re protecting countries and they’re not living up to the bargain. They’re not living up to the bargain,” he said.
11. Trump wants to see a woman president — just not now
Asked about the Democratic convention’s focus on women this week — a group that even Trump admits he is struggling with — and its history-making decision to nominate a woman, the Republican nominee said he’s in favor of a ‘Madam President.’
“I would love to see a woman become president of the United States. But (Clinton) would be so wrong,” he said.
12. Missing chapter from Bill Clinton’s speech?
Trump restrained himself from going deeper in his criticism of Hillary Clinton, though it was clear there was something he wanted to talk about.
“And even the story told by her husband last night, he left out the most interesting chapter. I won’t get into that. The chapter that I really waited for, because (the speech) was pretty boring, the chapter that I waited for, I never heard. And he left it out.”
13. Shushing a female correspondent
There were a few gasps in the room when NBC’s Katy Tur pressed Trump on his call to Russian hackers and he sternly told her to “be quiet.”
“Hey, you know what gives me more pause? That a person in our government, crooked Hillary Clinton — here’s what gives me pause-,”
“But, here’s-,” Tur interjected.
“Be quiet,” he said. “I know you want, you know, save her. That a person in our government, Katy, would delete or get rid of 33,000 emails. That gives me a big problem.”
14. Bernie Sanders
Trump, in an appeal to disenfranchised Sanders supporters, has been arguing that Clinton’s team has deflated the progressive stalwart.
“Bernie Sanders has lost his energy,” Trump said. “He wants to go home and go to sleep.”
15. “I’m not an email person”
Trump said he simply doesn’t believe in email.
“I’m not an email person myself. I don’t believe in it because I think it can be hacked,” he said. “I’m just not a believer in email.”
16. Israel
Back in December, Trump was planning to go to Israel but canceled it after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his proposal to ban U.S. travel for all Muslims.
“It’s a tradition but I don’t do things that are traditional,” Trump said when asked if he was still planning to reschedule his trip.
“I don’t know,” he later added. “I haven’t set my schedule yet. I don’t know.”
17. David … or John Hinckley, Jr.
Trump was quick to weigh in on the release of John Hinckley, Jr., the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.
“By the way David Hinckley should not have been freed. David Hinckley was just released,” Trump said.
When a few reporters corrected him, he added: “John Hinckley.”
18. Press conferences aren’t fun
Trump opened up his press conference noting that Clinton hadn’t held one in 235 days. In fact, the last seated, formal press conference with Clinton was December 4 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, though she has had several informal pressers since then.
Still, Trump made it clear how he feels about the Fourth Estate.
“I put myself through your news conferences often — not that it’s fun,” he said, before getting back on message. “235 days, no news conference for Hillary Clinton.”
