Rep. Chris Collins defended President-elect Donald Trump and slammed former president Bill Clinton, saying the husband of defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton "continues to be one of those people who just doesn't want to let go."
The New York Republican made the comments Tuesday on CNN's "New Day."
Earlier Tuesday, Trump had sent tweets refuting a report from Clinton that Trump called him after the election.
Host Chris Cuomo asked Collins why Trump took time to rebuke Clinton, and remains focused on the legitimacy of his election.
"He won the election. Why this insecurity about the legitimacy of the win?" Cuomo asked.
"I don't think it's insecurity," Collins said, pointing out that Clinton, when casting his electoral vote on Monday noted that his wife won the popular vote. "He wants to refer to Donald Trump as the Electoral College president . . . I thought that was totally inappropriate by former President Clinton to again, kind of gin up the Democrats who want to claim that Donald Trump's not the legitimate president-elect of the United States."
He added, "That was just yesterday. I don't blame Donald Trump at all."
"It's time for the country to come together, unite behind President Trump. And Bill Clinton didn't do us any favors by playing into that narrative."
Collins has been critical of Democrats before, including warning them on Dec. 6 not to block Trump's Supreme Court picks.
"They will have to be very careful about being obstructionists."
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