President Trump told Congressional Republicans that Sen. Orrin Hatch once told him he was the “greatest president in the history of our country,” better even than presidents Washington and Lincoln.
Not exactly, Hatch’s office quickly explained.
“He said once I am the single greatest president in his lifetime, now he’s a young man, so it’s not that much,” Trump said. (Hatch is 83.)
Trump elaborated: “And he actually once said I’m the greatest president in the history of our country, and I said, ‘Does that include Lincoln and Washington?’ He said ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I love this guy. I love him.’”
Trump claims Orrin Hatch told him he's "the greatest president in the history of our country"—which includes "Lincoln and Washington." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/Eg63zNgth3
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 1, 2018
A spokesman for Hatch, Matt Whitlock, later told TheWrap: “Senator Hatch has said that he would like to work with the President to make this the greatest presidency in history for the American people.”
So he did not call him the greatest president, as of now?
“No he did not,” Hatch’s spokesman said.
Trump’s speech Thursday came on the same day he was aggressively fact-checked for wrongly claiming the best State of the Union viewership ever.
Hatch has announced plans to retire (not because of this) leading to speculation that Mitt Romney may run for his seat.
Here are some tweets about Trump saying Hatch told him he’s the best president ever.
Well, technically, all Americans over 35 *can be* the greatest president ever.
— Sara Kosiorek (@SaraKosiorek) February 1, 2018
Did he use air quotes, cause I bet he used air quotes pic.twitter.com/Z8kVeJkfXO
— GTBBAD☮️ (@GTBBAD) February 1, 2018
Sure… pic.twitter.com/PWNqEoCSwz
— Brandon H (@brandon_r_horan) February 1, 2018