Dear Commons Community,
Former President Donald Trump’s recent plea to Russian President Vladimir Putin for political help in the form of dirt on Hunter Biden is the “worst possible thing” and “completely unacceptable,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said yesterday in an interview on CNN (see video above).
Trump called on Putin during an interview Tuesday to release any damaging information he might have on President Joe Biden’s son related to possible business dealings in Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The plea evoked Trump’s call during his first presidential campaign for Russia to hack and expose Hillary Clinton’s emails. Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign emails were hacked a short time later by an operation linked to the Kremlin.
Hogan told CNN’s Dana Bash that he wasn’t “surprised” by “just more of the same” from Trump. He said, however, that it was particularly disturbing now, amid the Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Trump would make that statement, but it’s about the worst possible thing you can do when all these atrocities are taking place in Ukraine and Putin’s aggression is what the focus is,” Hogan said.
“For a former president to try to drag politics into that is just completely unacceptable,” he added.
Hogan also discussed last year’s U.S. Capitol riot and said it remains to be seen what action may be taken against Trump for his role in the attack on a congressional session to certify the 2020 Electoral College vote. But Hogan added: “There’s no question … that he was involved in stirring up the insurrection on Jan. 6.”
Hogan also attacked another one of his least favorite Republicans — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He called the state’s new “Don’t Say Gay” law — banning any gender identity or sexual orientation discussion in kindergarten through third grade classrooms — “absurd” and not something that would pass in his state.
He also called DeSantis’ new war on Disney after the company spoke out against the controversial law a “crazy fight.”
“We have a thing called freedom of speech,” said Hogan. Disney can “come out and say what they think,” he added.
Good interview, Governor Hogan!
Tony
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