WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, calling him a \u201cphony Vietnam con artist\u201d after the lawmaker expressed strong support for a special counsel\u2019s probe of Russia meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a series of tweets from his vacation in New Jersey, Trump dismissed the \u201choax Russian collusion\u201d and revived a 2010 embarrassment for Blumenthal. The Connecticut lawmaker, a Marine Corps reservist during Vietnam, had to apologize for saying he had served in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInteresting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a phony Vietnam con artist!\u201d Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNever in U.S. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal. He told stories about his Vietnam battles and…….conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blumenthal later responded to Trump on Twitter, saying: \u201cMr. President: Your bullying hasn\u2019t worked before and it won\u2019t work now. No one is above the law.\u201d He added, \u201cThis issue isn\u2019t about me – it\u2019s about the Special Counsel\u2019s independence and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nine hours after the tweetstorm, Trump was back at it again, with a new broadside against Blumenthal via Twitter: \u201cI think Senator Blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s initial criticism Monday morning came shortly after Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was interviewed on CNN. The senator discussed several topics, including the Justice Department\u2019s crackdown on leakers, new sanctions on North Korea and reports that special counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in his inquiry into Russia meddling and potential ties to the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m very concerned that the Department of Justice is weaponizing these laws for its personal and political ends, and specifically for the White House\u2019s purposes,\u201d Blumenthal said. He warned of a \u201cchilling effect on the press and whistleblowers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two-term Connecticut senator and former state attorney general credited the media for its reporting on the Trump administration. He said Mueller\u2019s investigation must be pursued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe impanelment of the grand jury shows that Bob Mueller is pursuing this potential wrongdoing by the Russians, the attack on our democracy, seriously and diligently. There is no minimizing … that attack by the Russians,\u201d Blumenthal said, before pointing out the \u201cpotential collusion by the Trump campaign and then obstruction of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said \u201cthat investigation must be pursued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t the first time that Trump had raised the issue of Blumenthal and Vietnam. Earlier this year, Trump accused Blumenthal of misrepresenting Neil Gorsuch\u2019s comments from a private meeting. Blumenthal said Gorsuch, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court, had told him that he found the president\u2019s attacks on the judiciary \u201cdisheartening\u201d and \u201cdemoralizing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response, Trump said during a luncheon with senators that Blumenthal had misrepresented Gorsuch. \u201cHis comments were misrepresented. And what you should do is ask Senator Blumenthal about his Vietnam record that didn\u2019t exist after years of saying it did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, calling him a \u201cphony Vietnam con artist\u201d after the lawmaker expressed strong support for a special counsel\u2019s probe of Russia meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2310],"class_list":["post-17306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KYPFHSNMQVBYVDEWAVPPXP2UBQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/08\/08\/trump-raps-democratic-sen-blumenthal-as-phony-con-artist\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n