Richard Blumenthal: Judge Gorsuch should condemn Trump publicly

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., holds a thumb drive during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, with petitions calling for the Senate to reject Attorney General-designate Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE ... more >

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By David Sherfinski

Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Thursday said he accurately depicted what Judge Neil Gorsuch told him privately about President Trump’s recent attacks on a federal judge and called on Judge Gorsuch to make his criticisms public.
“I absolutely accurately stated what Judge Gorsuch said to me, as confirmed by his own spokesman,” Mr. Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, said on CNN’s “New Day.”



“Colleagues heard the same thing in their private meeting, and I believe Judge Gorsuch — more than just saying it behind closed doors — needs to publicly condemn these attacks,” he said.
Judge Gorsuch is Mr. Trump’s pick to fill the current vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court and has been making the rounds in meetings with senators who will ultimately be voting on whether or not to confirm him.
Mr. Blumenthal said Wednesday the judge told him he was dismayed by the president’s recent attacks on Twitter of a judge who temporarily halted his immigration executive order. Those comments were confirmed by a spokesman for the judge.
Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, said on MSNBC Thursday the judge made similar comments in his own meeting with him.

 

Mr. Trump said in a Thursday morning tweet that Mr. Blumenthal lied about his military service record and questioned whether he was accurately reporting what happened in the meeting.
“I am not about to try to explain the president’s tweets,” Mr. Blumenthal said.
The president also tweeted about 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!”
During his 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, Mr. Blumenthal was forced to admit he exaggerated his military record after he said on at least one occasion that he served in Vietnam. He was in the Marine Corps reserves at the time.