Bennet takes shots at Trump
At 3 town halls, U.S. senator notes president’s “ridiculous” comments, actions
At a town hall in Denver, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet gave President Donald Trump some backhanded credit for this week’s news that a special counsel had been appointed to investigate possible collusion between the commander in chief’s campaign and a Russian effort to influence last year’s presidential election.
“It happened much faster than I thought it ever would,” Bennet said. “I think the reason it did is because the president couldn’t stop saying things that were ridiculous.”
But the Colorado Democrat steered clear of the impeachment talk that has begun to percolate on Capitol Hill in recent days, saying the best thing to do now is to let the various investigations at the Department of Justice, the FBI and Congress run their course.
A few hundred constituents attended Bennet’s town hall at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church on Friday, but the low-key affair stood in stark contrast to the contentious, raucous homecomings that have greeted Republicans lawmakers across the country this year. Instead of the interruptions and jeers that U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman faced in April, Bennet was greeted with mostly polite applause — even on the rare occasion that he was put in the position of disagreeing with the predominantly liberal crowd.
The early-evening town hall was Bennet’s third of the day, following stops in Fort Collins and Boulder.
Constituents quizzed him on a wide array of concerns, including health care, immigration, space exploration and the troubled veteran’s hospital project in Aurora.
And even though it came on the heels of one of the most tumultuous political weeks in recent memory, it wasn’t until near the end that Bennet fielded the first question on Trump, former FBI Director James Comey and the ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had revealed classified information to a Russian ambassador. A day later, The New York Times reported that Comey kept detailed memos describing his interactions with the president before his firing — including an allegation that Trump asked Comey to stop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. On Wednesday, a special counsel was named to probe ties between the Trump campaign and Russia — a move that Bennet praised Friday, expressing full confidence in former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the man tapped for the job.
“Now, we should let the investigation go forward and we should follow the evidence,” Bennet said.
On health care, Bennet promised to push back against the House Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and to protect Medicaid.
He also criticized the Trump administration for immigration policies that he said were doing “real violence” to the country’s traditions.
Frequently, Bennet grew reflective of the political climate, complaining at length about Congress’ inability to get things done, whether due to partisanship or the influence of money in politics.
“We have not been focused on the business (of the American people) for a long time,” Bennet told The Denver Post in an interview. “I think that’s one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected.”