Donald Trump s economic adviser Stephen Moore was captured on video complaining about the presidents crappy debate performance against his Democratic rival Joe Biden .

It was not a great performance by Trump; in fact, I thought it was a pretty crappy performance, Moore told a crowd gathered in Washington earlier this month for the Election Protection Summit by the Trump-supporting FreedomWorks nonprofit organisation.

Moore also conceded that Trumps first debate against former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election was similarly awful.

Oh my God, he was so bad in that debate, just awful, Moore said at the Oct. 2 reception kicking off the conference in a video obtained by Wisconsin watchdog group Documented , which probes corporate influence on public policy.

The economist recalled leaving New Yorks Hofstra University after the 2016 debate with his buddy, now-White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow . He told the audience, my friend called me and said, Steve, looks like you and Larry arent going to the White House any time soon.

But Moore said that Trump rallied and later clobbered Clinton in following debates, and that thats whats going to happen in Trumps future face-offs with Biden God willing, he added.

Speakers at the FreedomWorks conference railed against mail-in ballots and referred to contingency plans to challenge a potential Trump loss. Moore hailed the strong economy during the Trump administration, but also said he thought the election is going to be really tight.

The keynote speaker was prominent conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell, who just days earlier had attended the September 26 White House superspreader event in the Rose Garden where Trump formally announced Judge Amy Coney Barretts nomination to the Supreme Court. The following week, the president, first lady and more than 35 other people linked to the event or to people attending it tested positive for the coronavirus.

Mitchell was photographed at the conference without a mask amid a group of people . Almost no one at the conference wore masks or maintained social distancing guidelines to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. It was unclear if anyone had been told about Mitchells attendance at the Rose Garden event. FreedomWorks did not reply to HuffPosts request for comment.

Moore suggested Sunday that the US doesnt need a $2 trillion stimulus package to help the nations businesses and workers weather the pandemic.

The economy really is showing signs of picking up. I dont care what the newspapers say , he said on John Catsimatidis radio show on WABC 770.

HuffPost could not immediately reach Moore for comment about his assessment of Trumps debate performance.

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