A day after Sen. Richard Blumenthal got into a Twitter fight with President Trump, he was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which asked him questions about North Korea, the Russia probe, and the economy.
But he didn’t get one question about how he lied about serving in the Vietnam War, which is the issue Trump raised several times over Twitter.
Blumenthal was asked generally why Trump was bullying him on Monday, but Blumenthal said he wasn’t sure.
“I cannot explain the president’s obsession with me or any of the other targets of his tweets,” he said.
“It’s really not about me, and I have no idea what’s in the president’s head,” Blumenthal added. “But I’m determined not to be distracted. I think they are designed to distract people.”
Trump made it clear on Monday that he rejected Blumenthal’s criticism because Blumenthal lied years ago about his service in Vietnam, which never happened.
“Never in U.S. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal,” Trump tweeted. “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,” Trump added.
But that issue wasn’t touched on “Morning Joe,” whose hosts instead asked about growing tensions with and sanctions against North Korea, special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, and the Democrats’ message to voters in the 2018 midterm election. He was also asked if the feud stemmed from a failed real estate deal with Trump involving his wife’s family, but Blumenthal said he had “no idea.”
