TRUMP to HELLER: “Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he?” pic.twitter.com/LFiwuEY693
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 19, 2017
Nevada Senator Dean Heller has been one of the most vocal Republican critics of the Better Care Reconciliation Act and his party’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. This is partly due to his being known as one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress. As a result, he’s been targeted by a pro-Trump Super PAC with ads that were ultimately stopped at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Even so, Heller’s Las Vegas office was recently burglarized, with “a threatening note” left behind.
President Donald Trump piled even more on Heller at a White House on Wednesday during a lunch held for GOP senators. At one point, he implied Heller could lose his seat if he didn’t get with the program — all while sitting directly next to him:
“The other night I was surprised when I heard a couple of my friends — my friends, they really were and are. They might not be very much longer, but that’s okay. I think I have to get them back. You [Heller] didn’t go out there. This was the one we were worried about. You weren’t there. You’re going to be He wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he? I think the people of your state — which I know very well — I think they’re going to appreciate what you hopefully will do.”
Trump, who said neither he nor the Republican party will “own” Obamacare’s failure, ended his comments with a warning to other GOP politicians preventing a vote on repeal-and-replace legislation. “Any senator who votes against starting debate,” he said, “is really telling America that you’re fine with Obamacare.”
(Via The Daily Beast)