Trump Dumps Cold Water On Housing Bill That His Press Secretary and GOP Leaders Went Out of Their Way to Hype: ‘Big Deal, It’s a Yawn!’

President Donald Trump claimed that the bipartisan housing bill touted by Republican leaders was a “yawn,” and far less important that his SAVE America Act.

In the Oval Office Monday, a reporter asked, “What are your plans for the housing bill, Mr. President?”

“I don’t know,” Trump replied with a sigh. “I think it’s so unimportant by comparison to the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act is exactly what it says, it’s saving America from crooked elections.”

Trump continued:

And the housing bill is a bill that can get approved. They worked on it long and hard. It’s very bipartisan — that means the Democrats like it, and it’s maybe, even, it’s probably maybe more, that way they’re getting things that I wouldn’t necessarily agree to. Nobody knows more than housing in the history of the presidency. Nobody did well like me in housing. I made a lot of money with housing. But when I look at that bill, it’s a bill. But when I look at the SAVE America Act, it’s about saving America, and I’d like to have the SAVE America Act, and that’s probably not going to happen because we have four Republican senators, maybe five that just won’t vote for it, it’s crazy.

Trump started to go off on a tangent when the reporter followed up, asking, “But will you sign that housing bill?”

“It hasn’t been sent to me yet,” Trump answered. “It’s coming, I understand, and then I’ll make — here is what I’d like to sign: much more than a bill that — big deal. It’s a yawn…To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) personally delivered the housing bill to Trump’s desk on Monday afternoon. The bill will become law in 10 days, even if Trump doesn’t sign it.

CNN’s Manu Raju caught up with Johnson on his return to Capitol Hill from the White House.

“Look, just getting to the Capitol, I’ve been at the White House for the last couple of hours,” Johnson said. “We’ve been talking about the strategy of moving forward very important legislation. I understand the frustration of my colleagues that Senate Democrats are refusing to move the Save America Act.”

Johnson didn’t mention whether Trump agreed to sign the housing bill that he refused to sign last week until he had assurances that the voter I.D. act would be passed. This, after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the housing bill “one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history.”

Trump’s decision threw congressional Republicans for a loop, since they’ve been touting the legislation as an important way to ensure affordability for Americans before the midterm elections.

Johnson said “The only way to get [the SAVE America Act] to the President’s desk, we’ve been shown many times, is to put it on a reconciliation bill. So that is in the process.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!