Donald Trump held an unusual press event at his golf club outside of Miami on Tuesday to seize on the news that Obamacare premiums are set to jump by more than 20 percent on average next year.

“Obamacare has to be repealed and replaced, and it has to be replaced with something much less expensive,” the Republican nominee said at Trump National Doral, where he was surrounded by some of the resort’s staff. “Otherwise, this country is in even bigger trouble than anybody thought.”

Trump then touted the work of the club’s more than 1,000 employees, but said they are having trouble accessing President Obama’s signature health care plan themselves.

“All of my employees are having a tremendous problem with Obamacare,” Trump said, pointing to some in the front row. “You folks, this is another group. Is that a correct statement? What they’re going through is horrible because of Obamacare.”

The real estate mogul then invited several of them to speak.

Employees of Donald Trump stand behind him at a campaign event at his Trump National Doral golf club outside Miami on Tuesday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

But after Trump was done speaking, Trump National Doral general manager David Feder told reporters that nearly all of the club’s full-time workers are not using Obamacare.

“The company typically picks up 75 percent of the premiums and the employee only picks up about 30 percent, so it’s really a good deal for our staff,” Feder said. “There really isn’t a need for the vast majority of our employees to purchase Obamacare.”

Feder estimated that 95 percent of Trump Doral’s full-time workers are using insurance provided by the company, though part-time seasonal staffers may be purchasing insurance on their own through the Obamacare market.

Asked whether Trump was mistaken when he said all of his employees are having problems with Obamacare, Feder said he wouldn’t put it that way.

“I wouldn’t say he’s incorrect,” Ferer said. “I would tell you that the only employees that I know — again I don’t have the books in front of me — that may purchase Obamacare are typically part-timers.”

But the oddity of the Tuesday event, held just two weeks from Election Day, did not end there. As Trump was leaving the press conference, he was asked if he still believes the presidential election is being stolen from him.

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Asked if he still thinks the election will be stolen from him, Trump says "ask Obama" and refers to some tape from 2008 election pic.twitter.com/dxFJHYmocv — Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) October 25, 2016





“Ask Obama,” Trump replied, referring the reporter to a recently-surfaced 2008 video of then-Sen. Obama fielding a question about “rigged or stolen” elections on the campaign trail.

“Well, I tell you what,” Obama said at the time. “It helps in Ohio that we got Democrats in charge of the machines.”

Trump has repeatedly alleged that there is likely to be widespread voter fraud on Nov. 8. Fact-checkers widely reject this claim.

“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections,” Obama said at a White House press conference last week when asked about Trump’s comments. “And so I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.”



