Trump’s Escalating Exaggerations on Blumenthal

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Marine Corps reservist during the Vietnam War, wrongly claimed years ago that he “served in Vietnam” and once spoke of the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans “when we returned.” Those misstatements are fair game for his political opponents to criticize.

But President Donald Trump has stretched the facts about Blumenthal’s misstatements to absurd lengths.

Most recently, amid Blumenthal’s criticism of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the president falsely claimed Blumenthal “went around telling war stories,” claimed he “fought in Da Nang Province” and talked of “soldiers dying left and right as we battled up the hill.” Blumenthal never said any of those things.

We generally let politicians fend for themselves when they are attacked for misstatements. When Trump tweeted in February 2017 that Blumenthal told a “major lie,” because he “never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had,” we did not weigh in.

But like a snowball rolling downhill, Trump’s account of Blumenthal’s misstatements has grown more exaggerated over time – particularly during Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation hearings.

So, here we will lay out the facts about Blumenthal’s time as a Marine reservist – not – the