{"id":65754,"date":"2017-02-09T20:45:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T00:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=65754"},"modified":"2017-02-09T20:45:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T00:45:44","slug":"trump-hits-blumenthal-for-gorsuch-comment-claims-vietnam-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=65754","title":{"rendered":"Trump hits Blumenthal for Gorsuch comment claims, Vietnam &#8216;lie&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=5316359410001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"http:\/\/video.foxnews.com\">video.foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>FOX News<\/p>\n<p>President Trump on Thursday struck back at Sen. Richard Blumenthal a day after the Connecticut Democrat leaked alleged details of a conversation he had with Trump\u2019s Supreme Court pick.<\/p>\n<p>Blumenthal on Wednesday told reporters that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch said previous comments made by Trump about a federal judge were \u201cdemoralizing\u201d and \u201cdisheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?\u201d Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/829660612452036608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He later added: &#8220;Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave &#8216;service&#8217; in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave &quot;service&quot; in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/829681034564341760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The supposed comments from Gorsuch to Blumenthal came in response to Trump\u2019s tweet calling a federal judge a \u201cso-called judge.\u201d That judge had suspended Trump\u2019s immigration restriction executive order.<\/p>\n<p>But White House sources told Fox News that, while Gorsuch had indeed used the words &#8220;disheartening&#8221; and &#8220;demoralizing&#8221; during his meeting with Blumenthal, he was not specifically talking about Trump&#8217;s public spat with the federal judge, and was instead speaking in generalities about attacks on the judiciary.<\/p>\n<p>White House counselor Kellyanne Conway wouldn&#8217;t comment on whether Trump and Gorsuch had spoken in the past day, however, she told <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/on-air\/fox-and-friends\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Fox &amp; Friends&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday that &#8220;the president is fully confident in Judge Gorsuch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is aiding Gorsuch as he speaks with senators, released a statement Thursday morning clarifying the comments Gorsuch made to Blumenthal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Judge Gorsuch has made it very clear in all of his discussions with senators, including Senator Blumenthal, that he could not comment on any specific cases and that judicial ethics prevent him from commenting on political matters,&#8221; Ayotte said. &#8220;He has also emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary, and while he made clear that he was not referring to any specific case, he said that he finds any criticism of a judge&#8217;s integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump in his tweet latched on to Blumenthal\u2019s history of embellishment to bolster his case that the Senate Judiciary Committee member had misrepresented Gorsuch\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Blumenthal had for years boasted of having \u201cserved in Vietnam,\u201d but had in actuality received five deferments, from 1965-1970, before he joined the Marine Reserve, <a href=\"http:\/\/mobile.nytimes.com\/2010\/05\/18\/nyregion\/18blumenthal.html?_r=0&amp;pagewanted=all&amp;referer\" target=\"_blank\">The New York Times<\/a> reported in 2010 when Blumenthal first ran for Senate. Blumenthal\u2019s position in the Marine Reserve sent him to Washington state \u2013 thousands of miles from Asia \u2013 where he focused on local tasks, such as organizing a Toys for Tots drive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,\u201d Blumenthal told a group of veterans in 2008, according to The Times.<\/p>\n<p>Blumenthal told The Times he had misspoken, saying his \u201cintention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward, out of respect to the veterans who served in Vietnam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Fox News&#8217; John Roberts contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/829681034564341760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">http:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/829681034564341760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}