{"id":80665,"date":"2017-08-09T11:58:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T15:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=80665"},"modified":"2017-08-09T11:59:24","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T15:59:24","slug":"russia-collusion-theorist-senator-blumenthal-lied-about-his-vietnam-service-trump-tweets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=80665","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Russia collusion\u2019 theorist Senator Blumenthal lied about his Vietnam service \u2013 Trump tweets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><div id=\"attachment_80667\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/59886df3dda4c8c4738b4567.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80667\" class=\"size-full wp-image-80667\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/59886df3dda4c8c4738b4567.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/59886df3dda4c8c4738b4567.jpg 900w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/59886df3dda4c8c4738b4567-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/59886df3dda4c8c4738b4567-768x427.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-80667\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Richard Blumenthal \u00a9 Mary Calvert \/ Reuters<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>RT.com<\/p>\n<p>In a series of tweets, US President Donald Trump accused Senator Richard Blumenthal of lying about his service in the Vietnam War, after Blumenthal accused the Trump campaign of taking &#8220;payouts&#8221; from Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, who is currently working from his golf resort in New Jersey while the White House is under renovation, lambasted the Democrat from Connecticut by bringing up a controversy about Blumenthal&#8217;s military service in Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Never in US history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal,&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0Trump tweeted Monday, dubbing his critic\u00a0<em>&#8220;a phony Vietnam con artist&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0who is now a leading advocate of\u00a0<em>&#8220;hoax Russian collusion&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0charges.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Interesting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a  phony Vietnam con artist!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/894525428236464128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Never in U.S.history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal. He told stories about his Vietnam battles and&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/894526670836781056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8230;conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/894528885701971970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<p>\u00a0Blumenthal was elected to the Senate in 2010, defeating a Republican challenger for the seat vacated by the retiring Democrat Chris Dodd. During his campaign, it emerged that he had spoken about being\u00a0<em>\u201cin Vietnam,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0but never actually saw combat during that war. Blumenthal served in the US Marine Corps Reserve from 1970 to 1976, and was discharged with the rank of sergeant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The senator responded on Monday morning, accusing Trump of\u00a0<em>&#8220;bullying&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0and saying that this was not about him, but about the integrity of the special counsel.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This issue isn&#39;t about me &#8211; it&#39;s about the Special Counsel&#39;s independence and integrity.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenBlumenthal\/status\/894550746426777603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Several hours later, Trump fired back.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I think Senator Blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/894661651760377856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\"><\/div>\n<p>The spat began on Saturday, when Blumenthal accused Trump&#8217;s campaign of collusion with Russia in the 2016 US election by accepting\u00a0<em>&#8220;financial payouts straight out of their playbook sabotaging democracies,&#8221;<\/em>and called on the Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate the allegations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Russian financial payouts straight out of their playbook sabotaging democracies. Mueller must follow the money.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenBlumenthal\/status\/893875605611192320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 5, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Connecticut Democrat has been an outspoken advocate of the\u00a0<em>\u201cRussian collusion\u201d<\/em>\u00a0theory. In June, he led the 196 Democratic lawmakers in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/392328-emoluments-trump-lawsuit-blumenthal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">filing a complaint<\/a>\u00a0before a federal judge, accusing the president of accepting\u00a0<em>\u201cemoluments\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2012 payments or gifts from foreign states without congressional approval \u2012 in violation of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;The president\u2019s failure to tell us about these emoluments, to disclose the payments and benefits that he is receiving, mean that we cannot do our job,&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0Blumenthal said at the time.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nearly 200 Democrats sue Trump for accepting foreign payments through businesses <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/m8eTyZ4say\">https:\/\/t.co\/m8eTyZ4say<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u31riYbHux\">pic.twitter.com\/u31riYbHux<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RT America (@RT_America) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RT_America\/status\/875195976696430592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/398894-trump-blumenthal-russia-vietnam-tweets\/\">http:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/398894-trump-blumenthal-russia-vietnam-tweets\/<\/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-80665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80665","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=80665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}