By Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times
ROANOKE, Va. — Donald Trump on Monday gleefully poked at the lack of unity at the Democratic National Convention, and the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the aftermath of an email hacking scandal.
“Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I always knew she was highly overrated. Not good,” he told thousands of supporters in a sweltering hotel ballroom. “But she just got fired. They said, ‘Debbie, you’re fired.’ How about that for disloyalty in terms of Hillary Clinton, in all fairness, because Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been so much for Hillary Clinton.”
As Democrats opened their convention in Philadelphia amidst palpable discord, Trump offered his take to supporters.
“So Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary and Hillary threw her under a bus and it didn’t take her more than five minutes to make that decision,” Trump said. “Man, I don’t want her covering my back, I’ll tell you that.”
Trump, who was accompanied by his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said the emails proved that the system was “rigged” against Sen. Bernie Sanders, and predicted the Vermont senator’s followers who have been protesting in Philadelphia would back the Republican ticket.
“A lot of the people marching, a lot of those people will vote for us,” he said.
Trump also castigated Clinton for picking Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, saying he was a flawed governor of Virginia and not the smart choice to appease Sanders’ supporters.
“Hillary Clinton has bad judgment. She shouldn’t have picked this guy. It was a big mistake because he is the exact opposite of what all of the Bernie people want,” Trump said.
Trump also threatened not to pay the rental fee at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center because of the temperature at the event.
“We’re in a ballroom and I feel like I’m in a sauna,” he said. “… I think the people who own this hotel should be ashamed of themselves.”
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