President Donald Trump attacked Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Twitter on Monday morning over comments Blumenthal made on CNN defending special counsel Robert Mueller.
Blumenthal told CNN he supported the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016. He also said he was worried the Justice Department was weaponizing laws against leakers for political gain.
“What we know about the Trump administration so far has been the result of very good reporting. I believe when the history of this era is written, the heroes will be the free press and the independent judiciary who have upheld the rule of law against threats by the Trump administration.”
In a series of early morning tweets, Trump said no one in history had lied or defrauded voters like Blumenthal and called him a phony Vietnam con artist. Blumenthal served in the Marine Reserve during the war and never saw combat. But in at least two 2010 campaign rallies, he said he had been in Vietnam. Trump said Blumenthal cried like a baby when he apologized at that time for the statements.
Blumenthal said, “I’m not going to allow myself to be distracted, or bullied, by these slurs…I feel it deeply that I have an obligation to fight for the people of Connecticut and for the nation, and the rule of law and for policies that are sane and rational.”
Blumenthal is on the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department, and had appointed the special counsel.
