CNN commentator Paul Begala, the former counselor to President Bill Clinton, praised Donald Trump on Wednesday for striking a deal with Carrier Corp. to keep 1,000 jobs in the United States.
Begala appeared on CNN with host Chris Cuomo and discussed the news from the prior night that President-elect Trump and Carrier, a U.S.-based air conditioning company, had reached a deal to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana that were originally going to be moved to Mexico.
"I actually applaud him using the bully pulpit to beat up on a powerful corporation to keep jobs in America," Begala said.
The announcement of the Carrier deal comes after Trump campaigned for months on his ability to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
Carrier had previously said it was going to move 2,000 manufacturing jobs from its Indianapolis plant to Monterrey, Mexico in an effort to reduce costs. Vice President-elect Mike Pence reportedly included incentives from Indiana, where he is governor, in the agreement.
Begala served as counselor to Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1999 and was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. He often criticized Trump throughout the 2016 presidential campaign for his controversial rhetoric and policy positions.