President Donald Trump took aim at Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Twitter Wednesday morning, in response to the senator’s comments on the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.
On Tuesday the president terminated Comey, citing recommendations from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who criticized Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
The firing came as a surprise of many in Washington and has earned criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Blumenthal was one of those quick to speak out, calling for an independent special prosecutor on the investigation into White House ties to Russia, and comparing the situation to Watergate.
The senator argued that a special prosecutor is only way to ensure credibility in the FBI investigation going forward.
“The need for a special prosecutor is now crystal clear. President Trump has catastrophically compromised the FBI’s ongoing investigation of his own White House’s ties to Russia. Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened, and our faith in the independence and integrity of those systems so shaken. The only way to restore faith in a non-political, non-partisan FBI is to appoint an independent special prosecutor,” Blumenthal said in a statement Tuesday.
In a series of tweets, the president said Blumenthal’s argument was a “joke,” claiming that Blumenthal was involved in “the greatest military frauds” in the country’s history and calling for an investigation into the senator himself.
Blumenthal became embroiled in controversy when he ran against Linda McMahon for one of Connecticut’s U.S. Senate seats in 2010 – based off comments he made in 2008 suggesting he served in Vietnam.
A New York Times investigation found that Blumenthal received at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and records show he enlisted in the Marine Reserve -- a move that "virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam," according to the Times.
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Blumenthal acknowledged that he may have misspoken about his service record at the time the report came out, but denied lying about it.
On Wednesday Blumenthal responded to the president's tweets with one of his own, saying the "bullying" won't stop him from calling for an independent investigation.
"The intelligence committees can hold hearings, an independent commission can produce a report and findings. Only a prosecutor and only a special independent prosecutor can bring charges, hold people accountable if they've broken the law," Blumenthal told MSNBC Wednesday afternoon.
