Angry Grimm, Donovan debate who’s #1 Trump flunky
REP. Daniel Donovan and former Rep. Michael Grimm started talking over one another 56 seconds after the first question in their first debate had been asked — and from then on, they rarely stopped.
The two Republicans faced off in a debate as bitter as the primary between them for a Staten Island congressional seat Monday at the studios of WABC Radio.
Donovan slammed Grimm, who resigned in 2014 after pleading guilty to tax evasion, as an excon who lied to the voters and was looking for a postprison way onto the public payroll, and Grimm ripped Donovan, who has been endorsed by President Trump, as a do-nothing congressman who was too soft on issues like banning sanctuary cities.
Over the course of a crosstalk-filled hour, each accused the other of not being a big enough supporter of the President.
“Somebody who didn’t pay his federal taxes now wants a federal job from us on taxpayer money, and wants a federal pension,” Donovan said before being cut off by Grimm in one exchange typical of the entire affair’s tenor.
“Let my tell you why that’s rich,” Grimm said, before referencing a conversation the pair had when Grimm decided to enter the race. “You know what he told me when I said I was going to primary him? ‘Can you please just give me two more years? My daughter is getting older and I’m going to retire.’ ”
“I never said that,” Donovan said over Grimm. “I never said that.”
The pair even feuded about whether Donovan had sought to help Grimm request a presidential pardon.
Grimm said he went to Donovan’s home prior to announcing his run, because former Borough President Guy Molinari had told him that Donovan had reached out to Trump about a pardon.
“You were the one that said that you told the President that a Marine was wrongfully convicted and needed his help,” Grimm said. Donovan said he’d reached out to Trump about the pardon at Molinari’s request.
“And the President asked, ‘Did Guy Molinari support me?’ ” Donovan said. “And I said no, he was a Never Trumper. OK, the President does not care to hear this at all. His staff said, tell him to call the pardon office.”