Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid ripped into Donald Trump on Thursday, calling the Republican presidential nominee a “spoiled brat,” “a con artist” and a “human leech who will bleed the country.”
Reid made the remarks on the Senate floor, where he cited a recent cover story in Newsweek that raised questions about a potential Trump presidency based on his international business ties.
The story, written by Kurt Eichenwald, said Trump would be the “most conflicted president in American history” if elected, as “almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.”
Reid began his remarks by expressing concern “about the integrity and the security of democracy in America.”
“We face this from Donald Trump, a candidate and notorious con artist. Donald Trump is only trying to help one person — Donald Trump,” Reid said. “I don’t care if he wants to be president or city commissioner, Donald Trump is in it to benefit Donald Trump.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Reid also said Trump would turn “America into a big scam just like Trump University,” which has been the subject of lawsuits by former attendees who claim they were cheated out of money.
“Let’s be clear about Donald Trump. He is a spoiled brat, raised in plenty, who inherited a fortune and used his money to make more money. And he did a lot of it by swindling working men and women,” Reid said. “Why would he change as president? The answer is simple: Trump won’t change. He is asking us to let him get rich scamming America.”
Reid, who is retiring at the end of the year, also brought up Trump’s appearance Wednesday at a black church in Flint, Michigan, where the GOP nominee was admonished by the pastor, Rev. Faith Green Timmons, for delivering partisan remarks. Trump adhered to Timmons’ request in the moment, but on Thursday he said “something was up” with her.
“Trump is a human leech who will bleed the country and sit at his golf resort laughing at the money he has made, even though working people have been hurt and ruined,” Reid said. “Trump doesn’t understand the middle class. How could he? How could he understand working people, because he’s only out for Donald Trump.”