Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter is a congressman first and foremost who also happens to work on behalf of Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, he said Thursday.
"I am not a surrogate. I am a congressman. I can't speak for anybody else but me," Hunter told
The Hill.
Hunter, who represents California's 50th district,
serves as the co-chair of Trump's U.S. House Leadership Committee.
"Everybody's asking me to explain all these things that he said," Hunter told The Hill. "Some of these things, I don't know what Donald Trump is thinking. ... I don't know where Donald Trump is coming from.
"I went the wrong way [off the House floor] by accident. There were like seven reporters and everyone was asking about a different Trump thing. I just said, 'Time out. I am a congressman. I am done talking [about Trump].'"
Members of the Republican party
are beginning to grow tired of Trump and his rhetoric, but the party's presumptive presidential nominee is steaming along toward next month's convention and, assuming he earns the nomination, November's election.
Hunter told The Hill he will speak about Trump on certain issues.
"A surrogate speaks for somebody, acts for somebody," Hunter said. "I am a U.S. congressman. ... It's not my job.
"I am happy to articulate stuff where I can but where I can't I won't even try."
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