Gingrich Thinks Trump Made One Post-Election Mistake

Newt Gingrich has long been an enthusiastic Donald Trump supporter, but he admits that Trump has made one big mistake since winning the election: questioning the legitimacy of the election with a tweet claiming that millions voted illegally. "The president of the United States can't randomly tweet without having somebody check it out," Gingrich tells USA Today. "It makes you wonder about whatever else he's doing. It undermines much more than a single tweet." The former House speaker, who's on the transition team but won't be taking any official position in the Trump administration, says he hasn't seen any evidence suggesting millions of people voted illegally.

Gingrich says Trump got elected being "this unique, charismatic, entrepreneurial guy who breaks lots of rules" and that while he shouldn't give up tweeting, "he ought to have an editorial board in between the first draft and sending it." Gingrich—who describes Trump as "one-third Andrew Jackson in disruption, one-third Theodore Roosevelt in sheer energy, and one-third PT Barnum in selling all the time"—says Trump should continue refusing to hold press conferences because the news media "so totally disgraced itself in this election." Gingrich met with Trump at Trump Tower last week, and he says the president-elect told him: "This is really a bigger job than I thought." (More Newt Gingrich stories.)