Donald Trumpâs economic adviser Stephen Moore was captured on video complaining about the presidentâs âcrappyâ debate performance against his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
âIt was not a great performance by Trump; in fact, I thought it was a pretty crappy performance,â Moore told a crowd gathered in Washington earlier this month for the âElection Protection Summitâ by the Trump-supporting FreedomWorks nonprofit organisation.
Moore also conceded that Trumpâs first debate against former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election was similarly âawful.â
âOh my God, he was so bad in that debate, just awful,â Moore said at the Oct. 2 reception kicking off the conference in a video obtained by Wisconsin watchdog group Documented, which probes corporate influence on public policy.
The economist recalled leaving New Yorkâs Hofstra University after the 2016 debate with his âbuddy,â now-White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. He told the audience, âmy friend called me and said, âSteve, looks like you and Larry arenât going to the White House any time soon.ââ
But Moore said that Trump âralliedâ and later âclobberedâ Clinton in following debates, and that âthatâs whatâs going to happenâ in Trumpâs future face-offs with Biden â âGod willing,â he added.
Speakers at the FreedomWorks conference railed against mail-in ballots and referred to contingency plans to challenge a potential Trump loss. Moore hailed the strong economy during the Trump administration, but also said he thought the election is going to be âreally tight.â
The keynote speaker was prominent conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell, who just days earlier had attended the September 26 White House superspreader event in the Rose Garden where Trump formally announced Judge Amy Coney Barrettâs nomination to the Supreme Court. The following week, the president, first lady and more than 35 other people linked to the event or to people attending it tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mitchell was photographed at the conference without a mask amid a group of people. Almost no one at the conference wore masks or maintained social distancing guidelines to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. It was unclear if anyone had been told about Mitchellâs attendance at the Rose Garden event. FreedomWorks did not reply to HuffPostâs request for comment.
Moore suggested Sunday that the US doesnât need a $2 trillion stimulus package to help the nationâs businesses and workers weather the pandemic.
âThe economy really is showing signs of picking up. I donât care what the newspapers say,â he said on John Catsimatidisâ radio show on WABC 770.
HuffPost could not immediately reach Moore for comment about his assessment of Trumpâs debate performance.
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