Sen. John Kennedy on Tuesday doubled down on his opinion that both Russia and Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election and said he doesn't care that Hillary Clinton took offense to his comments about the issue.
"I think I tweeted back to Secretary Clinton, 'bless your heart, madam secretary. I hope you are well,' and I meant it," the Louisiana Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"I try not to worry too much about what anyone thinks about me except dogs. I like dogs."
Clinton on Monday hit back at Kennedy via Twitter after he said during a Sunday morning talk show that he thinks both countries were involved in meddling, accusing him of "parroting Russian propaganda" about Ukraine.
Kennedy said he bases his opinion on "eight long opinion pieces, op-ed pieces in Politico, Financial Times, The Hill, The Washington Examiner, CBS News, The Economist, Bloomberg News, and The New York Times, all reputable periodicals and newspapers," and quoted headlines from the different publications that mentioned Ukraine and the election.
He also rejected the idea that the sources he quoted are "fake news," calling them "reputable members of the media ... I trust them. Even if I didn't, their lawyers aren't going to let them print lies."
Kennedy said he believes he's under attack because his "Democratic friends think this somehow undermines their impeachment case."
He added that he doesn't understand the pushback, as Ukraine's government is "historically and organically corrupt," but he has hopes that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will succeed in fighting against that corruption.
"But [former Ukraine] President [Petro] Poroshenko, he did try to influence our election, as these journalists have pointed out," said Kennedy. "Russia is a third-rate country with great cyber skills. Good spies and nuclear weapons. They did try to big-time influence our election in '16. I believe, based upon this reporting, so did Ukraine."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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