Trump a Gangster or Jokester? Lawmakers Take Sides on Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Sunday morning talk shows were dominated by the emergence of a second whistle-blower from within the U.S. intelligence community who may flesh out an investigation into Donald Trump, and fallout from the president’s suggestion that China investigate his political rival Joe Biden.

At least two Republican lawmakers suggested the president had been joking in remarks to reporters outside the White House on Thursday about China.

Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, on ABC:

• “You really think he was serious about thinking that China’s going to investigate the Biden family? I think -- I think -- I think he’s getting -- as I think Senator Rubio said a couple days ago, I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this.”

Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, on CBS:

• “I doubt if the China comment was serious, to tell you the truth.”
• “He loves to bait the press and he does that almost every day to see what you’ll talk about.”

Representative Val Demings, Democrat of Florida, on Fox:

• “I believe that a abuse of power, as we have seen over the last 10 days, that has been so detailed and appropriately laid out by the whistle-blower, I think the elements are there.”

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, on NBC:

• On Trump, Ukraine and a possible quid pro quo: “When I asked the president about that, he completely denied it, he adamantly denied, he vehemently, angrily denied it. He said I’d never do that. So that is the piece of the puzzle I’m here to report today.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on Fox:

• “If the whistle-blower’s allegations are turned into an impeachment article, it’s imperative that the whistle-blower be interviewed in public, under oath, and cross-examined.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, on CNN:

• “My focus is on the fact that you have got a president that is acting like a global gangster. He is basically going to one leader after another trying to get dirt on his political opponent. I consider that a violation of our laws.”

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, on NBC:

• “This is a moment where patriots need to step up and try to save this country, and I think there are a lot of regular citizens out there that are going to demand that their members of Congress look at the facts, make a decision out of facts, not make a decision based on their loyalty to the cult of Donald Trump.”

Former CIA Director John Brennan, on NBC, on how his agency would assess the U.S.:

• “We would look at it as a very corrupt government that is under the sway, right now, of this powerful individual who has been able to just corrupt the institutions and the laws of that country.”

Two Republicans waging long-shot 2020 primary challenges to Trump:

Former Representative Joe Walsh, on CNN:

• “No one from the White House or high-level Republicans are on the show today because there is nothing to defend. This president betrayed his country again this week.”

Former Representative Mark Sanford, on CNN:

• “Should 100 senators make the call on whether or not this president stays in office or should we, in fact, have that query come next November?”

To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.net;Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net;Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

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