Trump goes on raging tweetstorm at Democratic senator who criticized Comey firing on CNN and 'Morning Joe'

pulse

May 10, 2017 2:55 PM

"Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke. 'Richie' devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history."

President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House.

President Donald Trump sent out a series of tweets Wednesday morning attacking Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who had repeatedly criticized the president's firing of FBI Director James Comey.

"Watching Senator Richard Blumenthal speak of Comey is a joke. 'Richie' devised one of the greatest military frauds in U.S. history," Trump tweeted of the senator from Connecticut. "For years, as a pol in Connecticut, Blumenthal would talk of his great bravery and conquests in Vietnam — except he was never there.

"When caught, he cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness ... and now he is judge & jury. He should be the one who is investigated for his acts."

Blumenthal appeared on CNN on Wednesday morning, saying there was "really a looming constitutional crisis that is deadly serious."

The senator also was a guest on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday, calling for a special counsel to investigate the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia; Comey had been leading the FBI's investigation into the matter when he was fired.

In his tweets attacking Blumenthal, Trump was referring to a 2010 scandal in which it was revealed that the then-Senate candidate had repeatedly said or insinuated he had served in Vietnam, while actually he had obtained at least five military deferments and never went overseas.

"What is striking about Mr. Blumenthal's record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans' ceremonies or other patriotic events," The New York Times reported in 2010.

Blumenthal apologized for his remarks a few days after the story broke, saying, "On a few occasions I have misspoken about my service, and I regret that and I take full responsibility," according to The Washington Post.

Trump previously went after Blumenthal in February, accusing the senator of misrepresenting remarks from Neil Gorsuch, who at the time was the president's nominee to the Supreme Court. Gorsuch has since been confirmed.

pulse