Sen. Orrin Hatch said a bombshell court filing implicating President Donald Trump in hush money payments to women he had extramarital affairs with was irrelevant because the economy is thriving and they came before Trump was elected.
Hatch told CNN’s Manu Raju that what happened before Trump was elected was “another world” and the nation should judge Trump on how the economy is doing, not his past actions.
Hatch added, “The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president. All I can say is he’s doing a good job as President.”
Hatch dismisses allegations of Trump crimes over hush money.
Asked if he had any concerns, Hatch said: “The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president.” Told it was alleged by SDNY, Hatch told me: “Okay but I don’t care; all I can say is he’s doing a good job as President”— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 10, 2018
The Washington Post notes Hatch’s position is opposite of the stance he took during the impeachment of President Clinton:
Earlier in his congressional career, during Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999, Hatch voted to convict the president, saying in a statement at the time that “committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office.”
“This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes,” Hatch said then. “But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up. Any other citizen would be prosecuted for these crimes.”
Here’s the video from CNN:
