Trump's press conference at the UN

LOL.  Sure they did.  SIR.

Rupar says Trump took one question which he didn't answer. 

Trump calls his meetings at the UN "pretty staggering." He claims to have possibly set a "new record." (For...quantity of meetings, it seems.) (No idea who is the reigning meetings recordholder.)

Hahaha.  I  bet whoever he had meetings with would call them pretty staggering, too.

Trump says the "so-called whistleblower" "didn't have any first-class or first-rate or second-tier information, from what I understand...you'll have to figure that out for yourself."

Pass.

Trump again criticizes Hunter Biden for his business dealings in Ukraine and with China, saying "I demand transparency." (He tweeted the same a little while ago.) He then notes that Zelensky "wants to end corruption in Ukraine."

"No push, no pressure, no nothing," Trump says of his call with Zelensky, calling this story a "hoax." He complains that the media is not covering his diplomatic accomplishments.

Trump is blasting a group of Democrats for a letter criticizing Ukraine's prosecutors for closing investigations. He accuses these Democrats of threatening Zelensky. The Democratic senators were criticizing Ukraine for closing prosecutions related to Paul Manafort so as to, a NYT article suggested, not offend Trump. Trump is wrong that the Democratic senators' letter threatened to cut money to Ukraine. Here's the letter.

Trump boasts of China losing jobs and wealth. He boasts of the US economy, promises "much bigger trade deals." 

Trump says the US is now energy independent. It is not. (Definitions vary, but the EIA says it expects exports to exceed imports at some point next year. Even at that point, the US will obviously still be using foreign energy.) 

Trump alleges with no evidence at all that it was "all planned" that this controversy would be happening while he was having success at the UN. 

Trump, subdued but rambling, repeats his usual imaginary story about how San Diego and California wanted a wall but then San Diego complained after it was built. San Diego and California governments oppose the wall; even San Diego's Republican mayor opposes it.

Apparently, like his ridiculous rallies, this press conference has absolutely zero cohrence .  Oh, wait...I spoke too soon.

This is rally-level Trump rambling, except he is talking quietly to reporters.

Trump is now talking about his decision to cut aid to Central American countries, saying all the US got back for all the money was caravans. 

"Made a lot of new friends," Trump says of his time at the UN, then opens things up to questions, which he requests to be about UNGA rather than the "witch hunt." 

Name even two new friends, Don.

Asked to explain why it IS appropriate to ask a foreign leader for info about a political rival, and what he'd say if Obama did it, Trump says, "That's what he did." Obama did not do that. Trump claims that any time there's a poll, you can add 10 points, or 7 points, or 6 points to his support number. (This is still in response to the question about the appropriateness of his actions with Zelensky.)

Trump is not really addressing the question about his call to Zelensky. He is instead boasting again that he beat Hillary Clinton 306 to 223, though she got 232, though he has said 223 more than 25 times. He then talks about how Clinton didn't go to Wisconsin.

Dear God.

After extremely not answering the question about his actions re Ukraine, Trump hands it over to Pompeo, who talks about Iran. I'll resume if Trump does.

Trump is back. He makes his usual misleading suggestion that tariff revenue is being paid by China rather than Americans. (It's usually straight false, but this was a vaguer version.) 

Trump says he has great internal polls. He repeats his false claim that NC Republican Dan Bishop was down 17 points with three weeks to go and his false claim that NC Republican Greg Murphy was up only one or two points. 

After exaggerating, Trump says he has to be accurate here or else there'll be media headlines, "Trump Exaggerates." It's funny when he acknowledges fact-checkers as he is being non-factual.  

Trump says of his first conversation with Zelensky: "I'll release that too if it's important to you." He adds that "I don't like the concept of releasing calls." Trump on why he released the call document today: "You folks were saying such lies...about a call that was so innocent and so nice." He says Lindsey Graham was "shocked" that Trump could be so nice to somebody. "I was nice," Trump says.

Trump is citing the comments of Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. He says he'll take one more question, "on the economy." He calls on a reporter from Venezuela. "How are you doing over there?" he asks. She says "bad."

Trump has ended the press conference after his lengthy filibuster.