(JTA) — United States President Donald Trump has interrupted his working vacation in New Jersey to renew his attacks on Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), calling him “a phony Vietnam con artist” on Twitter. Trump was apparently responding to Blumenthal’s appearance on CNN, in which the Jewish senator voiced support for the investigation into alleged Russian election meddling and asserted the possibility of “collusion by the Trump campaign and then obstruction of justice.”
The president was referring to Blumenthal’s run for senator in 2010, when the former state attorney general gave a tearful apology for appearing to characterize his service in the Marine Corps Reserve as taking place in Vietnam, where had never served. Blumenthal tweeted back, “Mr. President: Your bullying hasn’t worked before and it won’t work now. No one is above the law. This issue isn’t about me — it’s about the Special Counsel’s independence and integrity.”