‘This Guy’s Not All There’: Jake Tapper Confronts Republican Governor Over His Endorsement of Election Denier for Senate
CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu about his support of the controversial Don Bolduc for U.S. Senate in the state.
Bolduc is aiming to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. He has falsely stated the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump and has claimed the Covid-19 vaccine is part of an effort by Bill Gates to put microchips in people.
Speaking with Sununu on Wednesday night, Tapper noted the governor’s previous opposition to Bolduc during the GOP primary.
“You recently have embraced him even though during the primaries you called him a ‘conspiracy theory extremist who’s not a serious candidate,'” said Tapper, who then played audio of Bolduc talking about Sununu in 2021.
“He’s a Chinese Communist sympathizer,” Bolduc said during a radio interview. “He’s in business with Saudi Arabian companies that give money to terrorist organizations.”
Bolduc accused Sununu of being “a globalist world government guy.”
Tapper reacted incredulously.
“There’s so much crazy in there, I don’t even know how to unpack it,” the host said. “But now you’re telling Republicans in your state to vote for him. This guy’s not all there.”
Sununu dismissed Tapper’s observation.
“Well, look, I’m supporting the Republican ticket up and down because you know who’s not there?” the governor responded. “Any of my Democrat congressional delegation. They’re literally not here. They literally spend years – Hassan has spent literally years out of state –”
“You know I’m not talking about his physical presence,” Tapper interjected. “He was a staunch election liar. Before he won the primary, he was an election liar. Then he drastically swapped his position once he won the nomination and realized, ‘Oh my God, there’s a bunch of sane people in New Hampshire I have to appeal to.'”
Tapper then aired a clip of Bolduc declaring, “I signed a letter with 120 generals and admirals saying that Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by it.”
The host noted that Bolduc has since reversed course, stating, “I’ve done a lot of research on this and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks talking to Granite staters all over the state from every party. And I’ve come to the conclusion – and I want to be definitive on this – the election was not stolen.”
“Look, Governor Sununu, you’re a sane Republican at a time when a lot of people are looking for sane Republicans,” Tapper said. “Are you hurting the cause of sane Republicans when you embrace people like that?”
Sununu denied such a thing.
“No. Look, this is about having folks in Washington, D.C. that put New Hampshire first,” he replied “Was the election stolen? Of course it wasn’t stolen. That’s nonsense, absolute nonsense. And it’s great to see him actually backtrack on that. But that isn’t the issue folks are going to vote on. Mar-a-Lago is not the issue folks are going to vote on. People vote in their own self-interest, as they should.”
Sununu concluded by saying, “At the end of the day, you’ve got to be talking about the issues that matter to the voters. I know the press likes to talk about all this other stuff, but at the end of the day, the voters are going to vote on who can deliver the most opportunity for their families, and by and large, it’s going to be Republicans.”
Watch above via CNN.
