President-elect Donald Trump responded on Twitter tonight to the Carrier union leader who said he “lied his ass off” talking about the saved jobs.
Chuck Jones is the president of the United Steelworkers 1999, and he said that last week, when Trump touted the big achievement, he wasn’t being very straightforward. Per WaPo:
The union leader heard from Carrier that only 730 of the production jobs would stay and 550 of his members would lose their livelihoods, after all.
At the Dec. 1 meeting, where Trump was supposed to lay out the details, Jones hoped he would explain himself.
“But he got up there,” Jones said Tuesday, “and, for whatever reason, lied his a– off.”
He said Trump was inflating the numbers and told CNN’s Erin Burnett tonight that when you’re dealing with people’s livelihoods, “you oughta know what the numbers are.”
A union boss at Carrier says Trump isn't telling the truth about saving jobs there https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/8cSZalQ5AQ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 8, 2016
He said it’s important to note that there are people at Carrier still losing their jobs.
Less than half an hour after that segment aired, Trump tweeted this:
Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
Jones called into CNN after Trump tweeted to respond to him, saying, “That wasn’t very damn nice.”
He did add that for Trump to say that means he’s doing his job, explaining to Burnett, “I was just calling him out on some of the things that he was less than honest with, and he evidently didn’t like it.”
He did express that he is still willing to work with Trump on saving more American jobs.
You can watch Jones’ comments before and after Trump’s tweet tonight above, via CNN.
UPDATE –– 9:51 pm ET: Trump followed up with this tweet:
If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
[image via screengrab]
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