New London, Connecticut/Air Force One – President Donald Trump on Wednesday addressed the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut for the 2017 graduation season. It was his first public appearance since new allegations hit the White House concerning the Russian connections.
Thanking the audience for their services, President Trump advised the graduating class, “Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair and that things happen to you that you do not deserve, and that are not always warranted, but you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight.”
Trump continued to advise saying, “Don’t give in and don’t back down and never stop doing what you know is right,” adding, “Nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever comes easy—the more righteous your fight, the more opposition you’ll face.”
President Trump then shifted to his favorite subject, media bashing, “Look at the way I have been treated lately, especially by the media.”
“No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let them get you down, you can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams,” lamented Trump. “I guess that is why we won,” Trump said, referring to his 2016 election win, which still stays fresh with him. Trump also added Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to his list of accomplishments, and said that he “saved the Second Amendment.”
Sean Spicer on AF1
Later on the way back the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer addressed the traveling press for eight minutes toward the end of the one-hour flight.
Appearing in the press cabin with Kellyanne Conway, who listened in on the conversation behind him but did not say anything, Spicer spent first three minutes reviewing the president’s speech at the Academy and previewing an event this afternoon featuring the Vice President in honor of Asian American heritage month. He spent fewer than 5 minutes answering questions.
Spicer dodged the question whether Trump supported former FBI Chief Comey testifying before Congress, saying, “The president is confident in the events that he has maintained and he wants the truth in these investigations to get to the bottom of the situation. There are two investigations going on in the House and Senate and he wants to get to the bottom of this.”
Spicer said, “The president has been very clear that the account that was published is not an accurate description of how the event occurred. I’m not going to give any other comment on that.”
On the offer from Russians to release a transcript of Trump’s talk with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, and if the White House was the conversation was being recorded, Spicer said, “I’m not aware of anything of that,” adding, “We’ve put out a statement very clearly the president does not believe that is an accurate representation of that meeting.”
Interesting to note that as Spokesperson Spicer reentered the forward cabin, the journalists could see the television tuned to Fox News which aired the on-record, off-camera Spicer gaggle sound live.
Spicer also disclosed that President Trump this afternoon (May 17) would, “continue to meet with candidates for FBI director.” He said they are: Acting director Andrew McCabe, Frank Keating, Richard McFeely, and Joe Lieberman.