Former President Donald Trump on Thursday night criticized what he called “softball” questions asked by reporters during President Joe Biden’s first press conference earlier in the day.
Speaking to Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham, Trump said Biden’s press officer was like a “different world” compared to when he faced questions from the Washington press.
“It was like softball, like you were playing softball – and it’s just a different world,” said the former president.
“Nobody saw anything like it. It is very sad to watch, in fact, they are feeding him with questions, they are easy questions, ”said Trump.
The press group at Thursday’s briefing was limited to 25 reporters and Biden only answered questions from a list of journalists whose names and vehicles he read on a tip card.
Trump noted in the interview how Fox News’ Peter Doocy was not called by Biden.
At Thursday’s press conference, Biden sometimes lost his train of thought, forgetting questions and stopping for long periods of time.
But Trump did not directly attack the way Biden handled the briefing – instead, he criticized questions asked by Washington media members.
“They were strange questions and they were asked in a very interesting way,” said Trump.
The former president then commented on a variety of topics, including reports that he can open his own social media platform after being banned from Twitter.
But, Trump said, he has become accustomed to issuing short press releases, which he has done since he was removed from the social media site.
“I almost like it more, I think I like it more,” Trump said of the releases.
“I make statements now … and the statements are collected by everyone.”
Ingraham also asked Trump about the anti-American statements Biden officials received from their Chinese colleagues last week at an Alaskan summit.
“That was a shame,” Trump said of Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi giving a speech to Secretary of State Tony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan about what he said was US hypocrisy.
“That was an absolute shame for our country,” said Trump.
“China respected us. They never spoke to us the way they talked to [the Biden] administration, ”he said.
Regarding the migration crisis on the US-Mexico border, Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response as “outrageous”, repeating his suggestion that they should complete the border wall.
The former president also rejected a statement made by Biden at his news conference that Trump allowed children who tried to enter the United States to “starve” across the border.
“In the first place, it is the exact opposite,” Trump told Ingraham. “When we finished what we were doing [on the border], very few people went up because they knew they would not pass.
“If little children were with their parents, but they often weren’t, and we would take care of them, but … what they are doing now is outrageous. And they must finish the wall. “