Sen. Al Franken's claim that some GOP lawmakers fear President Donald Trump is mentally ill was an "extraordinary" statement, but not surprising coming from the onetime "Saturday Night Live" comic, former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli tells Newsmax TV.
"I don't remember any Republicans saying Barack Obama was mentally ill despite the many reasons we had to question his judgement to say the least and then over time his motives. This was pretty extraordinary," Cuccinelli said Monday to Steve Malzberg on "America Talks Live."
"He just had the idea he was going to go on and be a funny man … I don't think he really said much that was serious in the entire interview."
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On Friday's "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, Franken was asked what Republicans on Capitol Hill were saying about Trump "behind closed doors." The Minnesota Democrat responded: "Some will say he's not right mentally. Some are harsher."
Cuccinelli, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, said, performing on "Saturday Night Live" — which Franken did from 1975-1989 and 1985-1995 — has "never been a qualification to be a U.S. senator and yet we have Al Franken.
"He doesn't like the president's policies, he doesn't like the fact that the American people endorsed things like 'extreme vetting' as the president calls it, he doesn't like the fact that this president ran and won on an 'America First' agenda. He doesn't like that.
"He thinks that belittling the president in his humorous way is somehow going to do damage substantively to the policies the president is trying to advance."
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