Donald Trump, who said he only hired the best people, was thoroughly asked why so many key players of his administration do not want him to be president again

• Donald Trump appeared on Fox News with the anchor Bret Baier on Monday.
• Baier recalled Trump saying in 2016 that he would hire the "best" people for his administration.

On Monday, Donald Trump appeared on Fox News to talk to the anchor Bret Baier about the case brought against him in connection to classified documents taken from the White House.

They also discussed Trump's time as president. Baier recalled the former president saying when he ran for office in 2016 that he was "going to surround myself with only the best and most serious people."

"Well, I did do that," Trump said. "That's tremendous. Look, we had the best economy we've ever had, the world has ever seen."

But Baier then questioned the former president why many of those "best and most serious people" no longer supported him:

This time, your Vice President Mike Pence is running against you. Your ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, she's running against you. Your former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said he's not supporting you.

You mentioned National Security Adviser John Bolton. He's not supporting you, either. You mentioned Attorney General Bill Barr. Says you shouldn't be president again. Calls you 'the consummate narcissist' and 'troubled man.' You recently called Barr a 'gutless pig.'"

Your second defense secretary is not supporting you. Called you irresponsible. This week, you called your White House Chief of Staff John Kelly 'weak and ineffective' and 'born with a very small brain.' You called your acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney a 'born loser.' You called your first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, 'dumb as a rock,' and your first Defense Secretary, James Mattis, 'the world's most overrated general.' You called your White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany 'milquetoast.'

And multiple times, you've referred to your Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, as 'Mitch McConnell's China-loving wife.'

"So, why did you hire all of them in the first place?" Baier asked.

Trump responded by pointing to the unnamed people in his administration who he said were "phenomenal" for the economy.

"Because I hired ten to one that were fantastic," Trump said. "We had a great economy. We had phenomenal people in charge of the economy. We had phenomenal people in the military. I'm not a fan of Milley, and I'm not a fan of certain of the television people. But I knocked out ISIS, I defeated ISIS. They said, Mattis, it will take three years, and I don't think we can do it. I did it in a period of like four weeks."

"There's a lot of people who praise you for your policies," Baier replied. "I just said that."

"That's true. Well, I mean, you just went through a list. But don't forget, for every one you say, I had 10 that love us," Trump said.