Boehner walks back comments on Trump

Former House Speaker says he never said Trump’s policies are a ‘disaster.’

One week after declaring that the presidency of Donald Trump has been a “complete disaster,” former House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester tried to walk back those comments by insisting he did not say “the president’s policies were a disaster.”

At a question-and-answer session Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Boehner said “some people have gotten carried away in their interpretation of what I said.” Instead, Boehner said he was “referring” to the “execution of the president’s agenda and the president’s policies.”

“And frankly I think there have been a number of missteps, unforced errors that the president has made and I think the White House would agree that they’ve had their share of mistakes as the president learns to be the president,” Boehner said in a video recording first reported by Politico.com.

“I did not say that the president’s policies were a disaster,” Boehner said. “I did not say that the president’s agenda was a disaster.”

Boehner described Trump as a friend, saying he has played golf with him and voted for him last November, adding he wanted “him to succeed and I want the country to succeed.”

Boehner praised Trump’s conduct of foreign policy and his nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, calling his confirmation by the U.S. Senate as a “giant step.”

Last week in Houston, Boehner said except for foreign policy, “everything else he’s done (as president) has been a complete disaster.”

Boehner’s remarks Wednesday were at an event sponsored by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers Employee Leadership Forum.

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