Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) issued a statement on Friday to clarify remarks he made when asked about President Trump’s culpability in relation to Michael Cohen’s hush-money payments, calling his initial reactions “irresponsible” and a “poor reflection of my lengthy record of dedication to the rule of law.”
“While I don’t believe Michael Cohen is any kind of reliable voice in this process, I have expressed confidence in Bob Mueller and his investigation countless times, including writing in the Wall Street Journal that he must be allowed to complete his investigation,” he said in his statement. “Last October, when Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted, I said, ‘I believe that it’s in the best interest for all parties involved to allow Bob Mueller to conduct a full and vigorous investigation.’ More recently, this August I acknowledged that the campaign finance allegations were “some serious charges, and they can’t be ignored.”
When CNN reporter Manu Raju asked about the allegations earlier this week, Hatch was dismissive. He blamed Democrats for the allegations and when he was informed that it was the Southern District of New York that made the claims about Trump’s possible crimes, he said “Okay, but I don’t care.”
“All I can say is he’s doing a good job as president,” he told CNN at the time.
Orrin Hatch walks back comments he made earlier this week pic.twitter.com/JqzGGEC31a
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) December 14, 2018
Orrin, just retire.
You aren’t fooling anyone, it’s plain to see that you have dementia, so just go home and enjoy your family while you still know who they are.
Yeah, like he wrote that statement himself. 100% agree with @tena - he’s worse than Reagan during his final years in office.
Do we need an age cap on congress critters? It may be worth considering. After all, I doubt the revered founding fathers envisioned people serving into their late 80s or 90s.
I think it was after the passage of the tax “reform” that the gop senators trotted up to the WH - and before the press sang “Trump is the Greatest President of them All” songs. Hatch’s was among the most obsequious. That’s when I started suspecting he was more than losing his grasp.
I’ve never been a Hatch fan. But he never looked so pwned and weak as in that moment. He hasn’t looked a whole lot better since then.
Nurturing your legacy makes being yourself very difficult.