ANALYSIS — “Give me a break.”

That was the response of a combative President Donald Trump when asked Tuesday morning on CNBC about former federal officials — including his onetime Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao — saying that a Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner would essentially be unable to doctor data to make him look bad.

“I think when somebody says, ‘The commissioner is not involved,’ I don’t want to get into any arguments with anybody — why should I? She’s a very nice lady,” Trump said via telephone about former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, whom he fired on Friday. “But when they say that nobody was involved, that it wasn’t political, give me a break.”

Asked if he intends to seek a legally questionable third term , a defiant Trump sign

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