{"id":176282,"date":"2018-08-12T04:49:56","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T08:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=176282"},"modified":"2018-08-12T04:49:56","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T08:49:56","slug":"rain-pouring-trump-rages-twitter-hangs-bikers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/12\/rain-pouring-trump-rages-twitter-hangs-bikers\/","title":{"rendered":"Rain pouring, Trump rages on Twitter and hangs with bikers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Trump appeared in a better mood when he greeted the bikers, who chanted \u201cFour more years!\u201d and \u201cUSA!\u201d as he entered the ballroom. (Photo<\/a>: Donald J. Trump\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEDMINSTER, N.J. \u2014 As rain dumped on his golf club, President Donald\u00a0Trump\u00a0raged on Saturday, lashing out at his Justice Department on Twitter before welcoming members of a \u201cBikers for\u00a0Trump\u201d fan group to the manicured grounds.<\/p>\n

Dozens and dozens of gleaming Harleys, Hondas and other motorcycles descended on the central New Jersey property for what had been billed as an outdoor photo-op with\u00a0Trump.\u00a0But pouring rain and flash-flood warnings scrambled the plan, sending soggy bikers inside a crystal-chandeliered clubhouse ballroom, where\u00a0Trump\u00a0signed autographs and posed for selfies and his guests booed reporters.<\/p>\n

It was a classic, chaotic\u00a0Trump\u00a0scene reminiscent of his ramshackle early campaign. The president was continuing an extended working vacation away from Washington.<\/p>\n

The day began on Twitter with a broadside against the FBI, which\u00a0Trump\u00a0accused of stonewalling a public records request for former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe’s text messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they hiding?\u201d the president asked, threatening that he \u201cmay have to get involved\u201d personally in internal FBI business and warning, \u201cDO NOT DESTROY.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0appeared in a better mood when he greeted the bikers, who chanted \u201cFour more years!\u201d and \u201cUSA!\u201d as he entered the ballroom. Rain streamed down the windows and pools formed on the empty golf greens outside.<\/p>\n

He quickly pointed out the sopping-wet media, which sparked jeers and calls to \u201ctell the truth.\u201d And he thanked the group, saying they’d been with him since the beginning and calling their motorcycles \u201cthe most beautiful bikes anyone’s ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later walked into the crowd of supporters, shaking hands, posing for selfies and signing autographs.<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0returned to the podium to poll those in the crowd on their views of the press, prompting more jeers. One joked that the press pool should be thrown out in the rain.<\/p>\n

The president largely ignored reporters’ shouted questions, except for one about former White House adviser and reality star Omarosa Manigault Newman and her new book, which includes scandalous \u2014 and often unsupported \u2014 accusations against\u00a0Trump.<\/p>\n

The president leaned over and cupped his hand around his mouth as if to whisper.<\/p>\n

\u201cLowlife. She’s a lowlife,\u201d\u00a0Trump\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

He ignored a question about ongoing trade negotiations with Mexico, which prompted some in the crowd to shout, \u201cBuild the wall!\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House had said about 180 bikers would be attending the event, including military veterans and members of law enforcement agencies, as well as members of the New Jersey chapter of Bikers forTrump, whose members frequently attended\u00a0Trump’s campaign rallies, sometimes facing off with anti-Trump\u00a0protesters.<\/p>\n

Later, when the rain had eased,\u00a0Trump\u00a0walked outside the residence, where the bikers had gathered with their motorcycles on the drive. He posed for more pictures, stood for the Pledge of Alliance and urged the bikers to rev their engines.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s hear those engines now,\u201d he called out, gesturing for them to go louder as the motors roared.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day,\u00a0Trump’s wrath poured down on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the president’s alleged enemies in the FBI, including ex-FBI Director James Comey, McCabe and Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who was removed from Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election after Mueller learned he’d expressed distaste for\u00a0Trump\u00a0in text messages.<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0branded them all \u201cclowns and losers\u201d who had hurt \u201cso many of the great men and women of the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0also revived his frequent attacks on Sessions, calling him \u201cscared stiff and Missing in Action.\u201d He criticized senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who was friends with Chris Steele, the former British intelligence officer commissioned by an American political research firm to explore\u00a0Trump’s alleged ties with the Russian government.<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0marked the anniversary of deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a tweet saying he condemns \u201call types of racism and acts of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year,\u00a0Trump\u00a0said there was \u201cblame on both sides\u201d for the violence that broke out when white nationalists descended on Charlottesville to protest the removal of Confederate statutes and marched through town shouting racist slurs.\u00a0Trump\u00a0said then that the group included \u201cvery fine people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Saturday’s tweet,\u00a0Trump\u00a0said the \u201criots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEDMINSTER, N.J. \u2014 As rain dumped on his golf club, President Donald\u00a0Trump\u00a0raged on Saturday, lashing out at his Justice Department …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":176284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-jill-colvin","mauthors-jeff-horwitz","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}