Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the defeated Democratic nominee for vice president, said he wasn’t surprised by President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Taiwan’s president – a move that disregarded nearly four decades of foreign policy precedent.
“It’s kind of amateur hourish is what I would say,” Kaine told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill.
But despite all the criticism of the the Taiwan call, Kaine said it’s not anywhere close to the top of his list of concerns with Donald Trump.
“I would say amateur hourish, but it’s the not the thing I am most worried about. You know having somebody as a key adviser who has connections to white nationalists and anti-Semites is a much bigger order of concern,” Kaine said, referencing Trump’s selection of Steve Bannon as a top White House adviser. “Putting somebody in who wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act as HHS secretary much bigger order of concern. I would put this as a kind of amateur hour thing.”
Kaine returned to the Senate earlier this month after he served as Hillary Clinton’s VP pick. On the campaign trail, Kaine was a dogged critic of Trump, but since returning to the Senate has tried not to weigh in on every moment of Trump’s transition.
