Trump doubles down on Blumenthal attacks
President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his assertion that a Democratic senator “misrepresented” his Supreme Court nominee’s criticism of his comments about federal judges, even though the nominee’s own spokesperson has confirmed them.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) told reporters Wednesday that Judge Neil Gorsuch said he found Trump’s attacks on the judiciary “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
“His comments were misrepresented and what you should do is ask Sen. Blumenthal about his Vietnam record, which didn’t exist,” Trump said after meeting with a group of Democratic and Republican senators to discuss Gorsuch’s nomination.
Ron Bonjean, a White House-appointed spokesman for Gorsuch, told media outlets Wednesday that the judge used those words in his meeting with Blumenthal soon after the meeting concluded.
{mosads}Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who is Gorsuch’s guide on Capitol Hill, issued a statement Thursday saying “he said that he finds any criticism of a judge’s integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing” but that Gorsuch was talking in general about attacks on judges and not any specific case.
Trump’s accusations that Blumenthal warped Gorsuch’s words have added confusion about the incident and raised questions about whether the White House is on the same page.
The president earlier Thursday tweeted, “Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?”
Blumenthal is also standing by his account, telling MSNBC on Thursday, “There’s no question he told me that the attacks were disheartening and demoralizing.”
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