President Donald Trump said Friday that Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) appears as though he was “hit with a baseball bat” or “beat around” after seeing him on television Thursday.
Trump made his comments at a press conference in North Carolina, responding to a reporter who asked if he was “disappointed” Schiff was not with him on his trip to the Tar Heel State and California to inspect hurricane and fire damage in the respective states.
“I was told that Schiff was going to travel with us to California. I wasn’t thrilled, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
“And I saw him last night on television. It looks like he got hit with a baseball bat or something. What happened to him? Something happened to him… it looked like he got hit. It looked like he got beat around,” he added.
The president noted he would ask White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to “find out what happened to him.” He also said he would have welcomed Schiff aboard Air Force One if the senator wanted to go on the trip.
Trump joked about Schiff, while departing the White House for Joint Base Andrews earlier in the day, when asked if he invited Schiff on the trip.
“I don’t know. Is he going?” Trump asked. “I don’t know, I mean I really don’t. ‘Cause if he’s going to be there, it would be cheaper, but I didn’t invite him; somebody did.”
In a statement Thursday night, Schiff, the top investigator in the first impeachment of Trump, said he was forgoing the trip to stay in Washington, DC, for confirmation votes.
“Senator Schiff greatly appreciates the President’s visit to see the devastation of these wildfires firsthand and the invitation to accompany him, and regrets that he’s unable to join the President in Los Angeles due to scheduled nomination votes,” a spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Fox Los Angeles’s Elex Michaelson.
“Senator Schiff is committed to working with the Trump Administration, state and local leaders, as well as his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to ensure that California gets the aid and support it needs to rebuild and recover from these wildfires,” the statement added.
