Just a conspiracy theory - he may have made a deal with Trump where he would offer mild criticism of Trump to show his ‘independence’ with the hope that he could pull off a few Democrat votes. Remember Trump had lunch today with a handful of Dem senators from states that went solidly for Trump. Those senators need something to justify straying from the party line if they are going to vote for him. I wouldn’t put too much stock on this one comment. Knowing Trump and his one great talent at picking the right people, I can’t for a moment think Trump didn’t know what he was getting.
The same notion occurred to me. That would be high level.