Senate

Gardner dodges questions about Trump’s call for Biden probe

by Jordain Carney - 10/10/19 6:45 PM ET

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), widely considered the most vulnerable GOP senator in 2020, dodged multiple questions Thursday about a president calling for a foreign government to investigate his political rivals.

“Well look this is what we’re going to get into. The Senate Intelligence Committee is having an investigation, a bipartisan investigation. Unfortunately though what we’ve seen is a very political process take over,” Gardner told reporters when asked if it was appropriate for a president to call for a foreign leader to investigate a rival.

When the reporter tried to follow up to ask again if Gardner thought it was appropriate, Gardner said that he had answered the question and turned to another reporter.

{mosads}After the second reporter asked Gardner if his answer was “yes or no,” the GOP senator pivoted to talking about House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry and told reporters they were focusing on politics.

Breaking: @SenCoryGardner refuses to answer question whether it is appropriate for the President to ask a foreign leader to investigate a rival. Quite the exchange in Denver #copolitics #kdvr pic.twitter.com/5Y0EYOcKjM

— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) October 10, 2019

“Well here’s what we see in the House of Representatives, you see a very partisan process taking place. Why is that when you all do stories or we see reports in the news it’s about four states — Colorado, Arizona, Maine and North Carolina — it seems to be about politics and elections other than the serious process that it is,” Gardner said.

When the reporter repeated the question, Gardner turned again to the Senate Intelligence Committee probe noting that it was a “nonpartisan investigation.”

“It’s an answer that you get from a very serious investigation,” Gardner added.

A third reporter then asked Gardner if he would condone a Democrat asking a foreign government to investigate a rival, Gardner knocked House Democrats for “a very partisan, partisanized effort.”

“What other reason do you have to cover four states every time you do a story on this. It’s about Colorado. It’s about California. It’s about North Carolina and Arizona, that’s what you’re saying over and over again in all these stories. So this is a serious time. A very serious investigation. Let’s have that investigation,” he said.

When a reporter started to ask Gardner if it was okay if he asked a foreign government to investigate a rival, he interrupted telling the reporter, “you know what I’ve said before.”

“This is about the politics of the moment, and that’s why they’re trying to do this now,” he added.

The clip of the back-and-forth between Garner and reporters quickly garnered attention from national media, Gardner’s 2020 rivals and even Trump, who liked a tweet from a Bloomberg reporter weighing in on a video of Gardner’s comments.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is running to unseat Gardner in 2020, knocked the GOP senator in a tweet.

“It’s wrong for the President to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. And it’s wrong that Cory Gardner refuses to stand up and say so,” Hickenlooper tweeted.

Tags Cory Gardner John Hickenlooper