President Trump got into a war of words on Twitter late Sunday night and early Monday with singer-songwriter John Legend and his wife, model Chrissy Teigen, after an MSNBC special on criminal justice reform. The Grammy- and Oscar-winning Legend took part in the town hall filmed inside New York's Sing Sing prison and hosted by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt.
The special didn't mention the sweeping First Step Act the president signed into law in late December. Among other things, it gives nonviolent inmates a chance to shorten their sentences.
Mr. Trump clearly felt dissed, calling Legend "boring" and Teigen "filthy mouthed." In four tweets, he said, "When all of the people pushing so hard for Criminal Justice Reform were unable to come even close to getting it done, they came to me as a group and asked for my help. I got it done with a group of Senators & others who would never have gone for it. Obama couldn't come close....
When all of the people pushing so hard for Criminal Justice Reform were unable to come even close to getting it done, they came to me as a group and asked for my help. I got it done with a group of Senators & others who would never have gone for it. Obama couldn't come close....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019Teigen chimed in on her Twitter account, noting, "The absolute best part of his tweet is I literally didn't speak in the special, nor was I mentioned. I'm cackling at the pointless addition of me."
But she also referred to Mr. Trump with crude language, then asked Twitter users not to make it a trending term. Legend asked the same.
The Washington Post notes that a Holt special that re-aired just before the town hall on MSNBC showed Mr. Trump signing the First Step Act.
