A day after Republicans added seats in the U.S. Senate but lost control of the U.S. House in national mid-term elections, President Donald Trump personally took credit for his party's Senate gains, ridiculing Republican lawmakers in the House who refused to accept his help on the campaign trail, as he threatened to investigate House Democrats if they spent time in Congress aiming investigations at him.
"They got nothing. Zero. You know why? Because there is nothing," the President said about possible Democratic investigations on Russia and more, as he threatened to retaliate against Democrats in the House if they pushed too far.
"They can play that game, but we can play it better," the President said, seemingly threatening to have GOP Senators investigate House Democrats.
"We have a thing called the United States Senate, and a lot of very questionable things were done, between leaks of classified information," the President said, hinting that Republicans would target Democrats who had committed misdeeds - which would be pursued if Democratic-led probes came after him.
"All you're going to do is get back and forth, back and forth," Mr. Trump added.
Earlier in the day, the President had made a similar threat on Twitter.
"Two can play that game!" Mr. Trump tweeted.
The President began his news conference by taking credit for GOP victories in states where he held campaign rallies in recent weeks, arguing that he made the difference in getting GOP hopefuls into the win column.
"When you look at the races that we won in Florida, which we weren't expected to win, in Georgia - which we weren't expected to win - in Ohio, which we weren't expected to win," as Mr. Trump his involvement tipped races for Governor and U.S. Senate.
"I'll tell you what, we did incredibly," the President said, downplaying the loss of GOP control in the U.S. House, as he said Tuesday was 'very close to complete victory,' and a 'great victory.'
Along the way, the President publicly belittled Republicans in the House who had refused his help on the campaign trail, saying they had made a fatal choice for themselves and their party in Congress.
"Mia Love gave me no love and she lost," the President said about GOP Rep. Mia Love of Utah, who was trailing in a race which was still undecided on Wednesday.
"Too bad. Sorry about that Mia," the President said, rattling off the names of other Republicans who did not 'embrace' him on the campaign trail.
The President rattled off the name of Love and a number of other Republicans who had been defeated on Tuesday - in what Democrats argued was a suburban backlash against the Trump Administration - but what the President saw as a campaign mistake, as he made it personal.
"Mike Coffman," the President said, mentioning the Colorado Republican who lost Tuesday. "Too bad, Mike."
"Peter Roskam didn't want the embrace," the President said of an Illinois Republican who didn't want to campaign with him. "Erik Paulsen didn't want the embrace," the President said dismissively of a Minnesota Republican who didn't stand arm-in-arm with him before the elections.
One GOP lawmaker who opted against a re-election bid in 2018 - partly because of the backlash to the President - expressed his disgust with the President's remarks.
"Different people can be disgusted by different things," said Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) after the President named a number of Costello's GOP colleagues. "This is one such thing for me. And I don’t use the word “disgusted” lightly."
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