White House press secretary suggests Baldasaro should not have been invited to signing ceremony
Incendiary remarks by a Granite State lawmaker during last year’s Republican National Convention continue to stoke national controversy. Minutes after state Rep. Al Baldasaro attended an East Room signing ceremony, White House press secretary Sean Spicer condemned the 2016 comments and said anyone using that type of language “should not be welcome” in the White House.
Baldasaro, co-chair of the New Hampshire Veterans for Trump Coalition, was in Washington to witness the president signing legislation that reforms the Department of Veterans Affairs by protecting whistleblowers and making it easier to fire incompetent personnel.
In a White House pool report, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman noted Baldasaro “was sitting in one of the first two rows in the audience. The crowd stood as the president departed, and Baldasaro yelled out a thank-you to the president for keeping a promise.”
‘Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason‘
The six-term Londonderry Republican drew press attention because of controversial comments he made during last year’s Republican National Convention, when he made headlines for calling Hillary Clinton “a piece of garbage” who should be executed.
“Hillary Clinton to me is the Jane Fonda of the Vietnam,” Baldasaro told WRKO radio host Jeff Kuhner. “She is a disgrace for the lies that she told those mothers about their children that got killed over there in Benghazi. She dropped the ball on over 400 emails requesting back up security. Something’s wrong there… This whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.”
‘Why was Al Baldasaro … invited to the VA event today?’
In a press briefing following the signing ceremony, Spicer was asked about Baldasaro’s attendance after the press secretary had denounced the “lack of outrage” over violent rhetoric directed at the president.
“If the White House is concerned about the message of Julius Caesar and stuff that’s said by Johnny Depp,” asked The Hill correspondent Jordan Fabian, “then why was Al Baldasaro, who said that Hillary Clinton should be shot for treason for the handling of Benghazi, invited to the VA event today at the White House?”
“I don’t believe that any – and the President has said this as well – that anybody who goes out and tries to highlight those kind of actions should not be welcome. I don’t – I’m not aware of the comments he made,” Spicer replied.
“But again, I’ll say it right now, that I don’t think that we should be resorting to that kind of language with respect to anybody in our country,” he continued.
“You do condemn it? asked Fabian.
"I do,” answered Spicer.
Initial acknowledgment followed by collective amnesia
Spicer’s claim that he was “not aware” of Baldasaro’s explosive comments mirrored the reaction by his boss when he was confronted on the campaign trail with questions about the controversy.
Early in the campaign, then-candidate Trump had referred to Baldasaro as “my favorite vet, the king,” but when NH1 News political director Paul Steinhauser asked if he condoned Baldasaro’s controversial remarks, Trump pleaded ignorance. “I don’t know what he said. You’d have to show me what he said,” Trump replied.
Trump’s denial contrasted with the initial response from his campaign. The day after the controversy made headlines, campaign press secretary Hope Hicks, who now serves as White House director of strategic communications, distanced the campaign from his remarks and insisted that Baldasaro “doesn’t speak for the campaign.”
“We’re incredibly grateful for his support,” Hicks told Steinhauser, “but we don’t agree with his comments.”
In August 2016 – one week before candidate Trump claimed ignorance – Baldasaro told The Republican reporter Shira Schoenberg that he had discussed the controversy with the candidate. “Donald Trump, he might not agree on the way I said it, but I said it as a veteran.”