Trump doesn’t hide that Tester is reason for stop in Montana
BELGRADE, MONT. >> President Donald Trump made clear Saturday during a campaign stop in Montana that he wants to defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester over a personal grudge as much as political ambition.
Trump blames Tester for the defeat of his nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. The president told hundreds of cheering supporters at an airport rally in the Montana chill that Tester “tried to destroy” Ronny Jackson, an admiral and White House doctor.
“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “I’ve never forgotten it and it’s honestly one of the reasons I’m here so much,” said Trump, who last campaigned in Montana in midOctober. “It’s a disgrace, what he did to that man.”
Trump was in Montana to boost GOP Senate candidate Matt Rosendale, who is challenging Tester in Tuesday’s election. The rallies are part of Trump’s multistate blitz in the final days before Tuesday’s elections, when control of the House and Senate — and perhaps the future of Trump’s agenda — are at stake
Trump said having Rosendale in the Senate will be “phenomenal.”
The president blames Tester for the backlash against Jackson, who eventually withdrew his nomination after facing anonymous ethics allegations, including claims of on-the-job drunkenness and wrecking a government vehicle.
Jackson denied the allegations.
Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees veterans’ issues, had released a list of the allegations against Jackson that was compiled by the committee’s Democratic staff.
Trump, however, doesn’t mention that the allegations weren’t the only factor that contributed Jackson withdrawing from consideration. Lawmakers questioned Jackson’s limited managerial experience and his fitness to run a department as sprawling as the VA.
Montana was the first of two campaign stops for Trump on Saturday. Later, in Pensacola, Florida, the president took a similar approach by criticizing the Democratic candidate for governor, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, and the party incumbent seeking re-election, Sen. Bill Nelson.
Trump warned Florida voters that Gillum was a terrible mayor and would ruin the state — “in one year or two years, if he’s doing a good job” — and he contended that Nelson was an ineffective senator for state issues and never called the White House to lobby on his state’s behalf. At the same time, Trump promoted the GOP’s candidates, Sen. Rick Scott for the Senate and former congressman Ron DeSantis for governor.