This might leave a mark…
President Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to blast Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut for allegedly misrepresenting a conversation with Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Wednesday, but it’s the part about Vietnam that could be an issue:
Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
Trump later took a shot at CNN’s Chris Cuomo for not bringing up Vietnam during the interview:
Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave "service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
Yes, Blumenthal lied about serving in Vietnam, but he was in the Marine Corps. Reserve…
1/ Here's the 2010 NYT story on @SenBlumenthal misrepresenting his military service as having been "in" Vietnam https://t.co/PB8flxfulK
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
2/ @SenBlumenthal in 2010: "I have misspoken about my service, and I regret that, and I take full responsibility,"https://t.co/fcSzUHHgQj
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
…which opens Trump up to questions about his deferments:
3/ it need be said: @SenBlumenthal served honorably in the Marine Reserves during the Vietnam War era. Others sought deferments.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
Too late, as this will be the story of the day:
4/ Does anyone in the WH comms shop think a discussion of Vietnam era service and/or lying good topics for today?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
5/ POTUS once joked about dodging STDs as "scary…my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave solider." https://t.co/2aKMhXjPZh
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/drewharwell/status/829670499768758272
Another issue is that Gorsuch’s spox confirmed the comment, but Sen. Kelly Ayotte — who is walking Gorsuch through the Senate — disputed that he was referring specifically to the president:
One wrinkle to prez's point here: it's not true.
Gorsuch's own spokesman – hired by WH -confirmed his comments. https://t.co/sNNhwaPi0d https://t.co/AVIdGMJwjW
— ProPublica (@propublica) February 9, 2017
6/ looking at @KellyAyotte statement is there room for disagreement about how specifically Gorsuch was referring to Trump? Yes perhaps. pic.twitter.com/B6bmXANGJh
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
7/ and that's a) relevant b) where any PR person worth his salt would have focused attn instead of Vietnam era service or truthfulness.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 9, 2017
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