President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday in Mobile, Ala. (Evan Vucci/AP)
President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to spar with Bill Clinton — who recently was quoted in a New York state newspaper saying that Trump “doesn’t know much” — claiming that the former president failed to get voters out in crucial swing states for his wife’s campaign.
The Record Review, a weekly paper that serves towns around the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, N.Y., quoted Bill Clinton as saying he had received a phone call on the day after the Nov. 8 election from Trump. The paper reported that the former president told a group of people in a bookstore, including a Record Review writer, that Trump “doesn’t know much. One thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him.”
“Bill Clinton stated that I called him after the election. Wrong,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning, saying that Clinton had called him “with a very nice congratulations.”
Referring to Clinton’s comments about him, Trump wrote that Clinton “ ‘doesn’t know much’ … especially how to get people, even with an unlimited budget, out to vote in the vital swing states (and more).”
“They focused on the wrong states,” Trump added without elaboration.
Trump’s electoral college victory was propelled by unexpected wins in the traditionally Democratic-leaning states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
[With electoral college vote, Trump’s win is official]
The exchange is a remarkable break from tradition among U.S. presidents of muting criticism of others who have served in the office.
Clinton also participated Monday as an elector, casting a vote in New York for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“I’ve never been more proud to cast a vote than my vote today for @HillaryClinton,” he wrote on Twitter.
