Amidst the growing tension between Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s aides, the president-elect slammed White House press secretary Josh Earnest for distorting the U.S. president’s messages. Trump even accused Earnest of deliberately going against Obama by following the orders of a different individual.
Trump made the statement after Earnest accused him of knowing about the Russian hacking controversy that allegedly manipulated the results of the election. In response, Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior adviser criticized Earnest and his claims and accused him of exploiting an issue in an attempt to prioritize his own interests.
“This is incredible disappointing to hear from the pdium of the White House press secretary because he essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames,” Conway said according to The Hill.
“I guess he’s auditioning to be a political pundit after his job is over soon,” she added.
At a recent rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Trump addressed the allegations made against him by Earnest. He also bashed the press secretary for doing a poor job in relaying the president’s message to the public.
“Having the right press secretary is so important,” he told the attendees of the rally. “This foolish guy, Josh Earnest. He delivers their message so bad. He could deliver a positive message bad.”
“The president’s very positive, but he not so positive,” Trump continued. “Maybe he’s getting his orders from someone else. Does that make sense?”
Earlier today, Obama told NPR that the U.S. government and intelligence agencies need to address the hacking allegations tied to Russia. Although the president admitted that the alleged hacking may have affected Hillary Clinton’s campaign, he did not cite the issue as the sole reason behind her loss in the recent election. Also, unlike Earnest, Obama did not draw a direct link between the Russian hackers and Trump.
