Trump, Bloomberg trade barbs on Super Bowl Sunday

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg went head to head on Super Bowl Sunday, using Twitter, multimillion dollar TV ads and competing interviews to trade barbs.

Trump in a pretaped interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired as part of Fox’s NFL Super Bowl coverage, spent a bulk of the eight-minute sit-down interview criticizing Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor staging a self-financed presidential bid.

The president, who has repeatedly taken aim at Bloomberg’s 5-8 stature, accused his billionaire rival of requesting a box to stand on if he qualifies to stand before future presidential debate podiums. Bloomberg’s campaign immediately shot back calling Trump “a pathological liar.”

“Why should he get a box to stand on?” Trump told Hannity, repeating an unsubstantiated claim that he made in a series of Sunday tweets posted just after midnight. “Why should he be entitled to that, really? Then does that mean everyone else gets a box?”

Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Julie Wood in a statement said Trump “is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan.”

Trump told Hannity he would “love” to run against Bloomberg, who has spent a record amount of his vast wealth to take on Trump. Bloomberg has spent $300 million in TV and internet ads to date since entering the race in late November, according to the campaign tracking service Advertising Analytics.

The Trump and Bloomberg campaigns each spent $10 million for 60 seconds of airtime during Sunday’s Super Bowl. Bloomberg opted for a 60-second ad focused on his anti-gun violence efforts, while Trump was poised to air two 30-second ads, one of which was focused on his economic record.

The president, speaking to Hannity, said it was “unfair” that the Democratic National Committee recently changed its debate qualification criteria to eliminate individual donor thresholds. The move clears the way for Bloomberg, who is not accepting individual campaign contributions, to likely appear in March’s primary debate.

Asked about the field of Democratic candidates, Trump told Hannity: “I have little nicknames for all of them.”

Bloomberg, speaking to reporters at a campaign event in Los Angeles, brushed aside Trump’s comments.

“I stand twice as tall as he does on the stage, on the stage that matters,” Bloomberg said. “This is what happens when someone like me rises in the polls. ... I think Donald Trump knows that I can beat him and that’s why he comes back with those types of comments.”

Trump’s interview, part of a long-standing tradition of presidential pregame interviews with the network airing the Super Bowl, came as the Senate is expected to reconvene on Monday to hear closing arguments in his impeachment trial. Trump, who will deliver his annual State of the Union before Congress on Tuesday, is expected to be acquitted by the Republican majority Senate in a vote scheduled for Wednesday.

Asked to weigh in on the impeachment, Trump said it would be “pretty hard” to work with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“Well I’d like to, but it’s pretty hard when you think about it,” Trump said.