Story highlights
The former House speaker said that his hopes for tax reform had dimmed
John Boehner also downplayed concerns over the Russia scandal
Former House Speaker John Boehner gave President Donald Trump’s young presidency low marks at an event Wednesday, saying that other than getting the House to pass a health care bill, “everything else he’s done has been a complete disaster.”
“He’s still learning how to be president,” Boehner said during an appearance as the keynote speaker for the KPMG Global Energy Conference, according to a recap from RigZone.com.
Boehner also said that his hopes for tax reform had dimmed, calling the preliminary discussions that are going on “just a bunch of happy talk.”
“I was a little more optimistic about it early in the year; now my odds are 60/40 … The border adjustment tax is deader than a doornail,” he said, referencing a controversial plank of the tax plan currently being sketched by House GOP leaders.
As for the House successfully passing a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, Boehner sounded unimpressed. He acknowledged Trump “did what he could,” but the former House speaker said he would have looked to “repair” to law instead.
Boehner also downplayed concerns over the Russia scandal swirling around the White House, saying investigators “need to get to the bottom of this,” but that “impeachment is not a legal process; it’s a political process.” He said “the crazy left-wing Democratic colleagues of mine bringing up impeachment talks” just “rile up Trump supporters.”
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Later, Boehner sardonically shot down a question about potential presidential ambitions.
“I don’t want to be president. I drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. I golf. I cut my own grass. I iron my own clothes. And I’m not willing to give all that up to be president,” the former House Speaker said, a variation on similar remarks he’s made before when asked about his political aspirations.
In fact, Boehner is still celebrating his decision to leave Congress. “I wake up every day, drink my morning coffee and say, ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.’”