Trump defends data centers, says communities opposing them are 'making a mistake'

President Donald Trump touted the benefits of data centers and said that communities opposing them are "making a mistake." The comments were during in an interview with his former fixer, Michael Cohen, which aired in full on Sunday. 

The rapid construction of data centers is facing a fierce backlash from some communities whose residents believe the facilities will increase electricity costs, use too much water and kill jobs. 

Trump disputed the claims of data center critics and said the U.S. is leading China in the development of AI, Axios reported. He said the "beautiful" data centers are making their own power plants and not impacting electricity rates. He also said that they create "tremendous amounts of jobs and money." 

"Communities that don't take a data center, they're making a mistake," Trump said.