Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean didn’t back down Tuesday from questions asking if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has or ever had a cocaine problem, which he first aired during Monday’s debate.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Kate Snow, Dean stood by questions he put in a tweet on Monday, asking if Trump was a “coke user” after a few sniffles during the debate. He told the host that while he wasn’t making a diagnosis, he wondered if Trump has had an issue with the drug in the past.
“You can’t make a diagnosis over the television. I would never do that. [Sniffling] is a signature of people who use cocaine. I’m not suggesting that Trump does,” Dean said before laying out the symptoms.
“I’m suggesting we think about it because — here’s the interesting consolation: so he sniffs during the presentation, which is something users do,” Dean said. “He also has grandiosity, which is something that accompanies that problem. He has delusions. I’m not talking about being crazy, but for example, when he told everybody he was very smart not to pay taxes, he denied he said it in front of 100 million people. It’s not that he’s delusionary about it. It’s like he thinks somehow he’s not going to get caught — that is delusional.”
“He has trouble with pressured speech. He interrupted … Hillary Clinton 29 times. He couldn’t keep himself together,” Dean continued. “So, look — do I think at 70-year-old he has a cocaine habit? Probably not. But it’s something that would be interesting to ask him and see if he ever had a problem with that.”
The former presidential candidate went on to say that he was “struck” by the behavior, adding that he doesn’t believe Trump has a cocaine “habit.”
“I don’ t think he has a cocaine habit. But again, I don’t make any diagnosis over the television. I don’t. I think that’s wrong. I think doctors shouldn’t do it. Doctors have done it in the past and they shouldn’t do it. I just was struck by the sniffing and then by his behavior, which all sort of came together, these four symptoms. Do I think he has a cocaine habit? I think it’s unlikely that you could mount a presidential campaign at 70 years old with a cocaine habit, but I think it’s pretty striking.”
Snow told the former Vermont governor that he sounded like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who raised questions about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s medical history. Dean pushed back against that insinuation, arguing that Trump has a penchant for secrecy regarding medical history that Clinton does not. He pointed to Clinton’s release of medical records that Trump has refused to disclose.
