By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump on Thursday surprised reporters by taking multiple questions for the first time in months.

On the agenda, defending his controversial ban on transgender troops serving in the military by doubling down on his twitter from a couple of weeks ago saying “I’m Doing Them A Favor” despite the huge backlash he received from not only LGBTQ activists but also from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and military personnel.

“It’s been a very difficult situation, and I think I’m doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it,” said Trump on his working vacation at his golf club in New Jersey. “As you know, it’s been a very complicated issue for the military. It’s been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I’m doing the military a great favor.” said Trump.

However, the Pentagon states that they have not implemented the change and won’t until receiving clearer instructions from the White House.

This has truly become a wedge issue for President Trump as five transgender members of the military have filed lawsuits over the controversial ban.

Despite all of the backlash from the LGBT community,politicians on the right and left, Trump said that he received a lot of support from those groups during the 2016 presidential election.

“I have great respect for the community.” said Trump. “I think I’ve had great support, or I’ve had great support from that community. I got a lot of votes. But the transgender, the military’s working on it now.” said Trump.

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