‘Yeah It Was Great!’ Reporters on Air Force One Approve When Trump Asks if They Had ‘A Great Time This Weekend’
President Donald Trump received a friendly welcome and positive reviews when he asked reporters aboard Air Force One if they “had a great time” covering him over the weekend.
The White House press corps has undergone some drastic changes since Trump took office for the second time. Right off the bat, Trump banned the Associated Press for ignoring his demand they refer to The Gulf of Mexico as The Gulf of America.
Then, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced her press shop would be taking over press pool assignments from the White House Correspondents’ Association and instituted a “new media seat” for independent and often strongly pro-Trump outlets.
The White House is now reportedly set to take over seating arrangements in the briefing room from the WHCA as well.
But reporters traveling with Trump seem to have found a way to keep things friendly and keep Trump talking. On his way back from Mar-a-Lago Sunday, Trump emerged into the press cabin on Air Force One to take questions from reporters, which is a much more frequent event this time around and much more so than with prior presidents.
As soon as Trump came into view he was greeted by a cheerful chorus of greetings:
REPORTER: Hello!
REPORTER: Hello, Mr. President!
REPORTER: Hi, Mr. President!
REPORTER: Hello, Mr. President!
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had a good time this weekend?
REPORTER: Yeah, it was great!
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had a lot of very interesting things happen and I think we’re making a lot of progress on Ukraine and Russia. There’s always conflict but I think we’re making a lot of progress getting it stopped.
I just want to see thousands of soldiers a week stop dying. Because they’re dying in numbers that we haven’t seen probably since the Second World War.
Trump then took questions for about 13 minutes, including several exchanges about running for another term.
According to pool reports, the press pool did not see the president all weekend until he got to the airport.
Watch above via C-SPAN.
