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On CNN this morning, Rep. James Walkinshaw nailed it on the situation with Iran, the Qatari-gifted (corrupt) Air Force One, and Graham Platner. Check it out, below.
- “We got to get a real agreement, a real negotiated, signed commitment to open the Strait… It would be better if we could work with our allies around the globe to increase pressure on Iran to get to that agreement. Unfortunately, we’ve alienated our allies and put the United States in a weaker position.”
- “With respect to the the planes, I know only what I’ve read, so I don’t have any access to classified material related to the Qatari plane. I think it highlights the folly of accepting that $400 million Qatari jet and then asking the taxpayers to renovate. It seems apparent that it is not up to the security standards of the original Air Force One or the Air Force One that the president was previously using, because it takes time to implement those kind of systems into a new plane. So that was a mistake across the board. And look, the Iranianst retain significant capabilities, cyber capabilities, obviously the ability through their proxies across the globe to implement terror attacks and that’s something we have to be very cognizant of.”
- “Yeah, look, Mr. Platner should look in the mirror, I think, and evaluate his own not just behavior over the course of his adult life, including in recent years, but also the way that he has failed to be honest, quite frankly, with Mainers about that behavior. I hope he’ll now have some time and space to do that.”
UPDATE 7/10 — Rep. Walkinshaw had the following to say:
- “The administration, ICE, DHS, FBI have presented not one ounce of evidence to support their description of the events [regarding the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo] and I think it’s incumbent upon them to do so. We know in previous incidents that when camera footage has come out, when eyewitness footage has come out, this administration, this Department of Homeland Security has been found to have lied over and over and over again. So, we have to assume that’s the case here until they can produce evidence otherwise.”
- “I think a lot of folks are going to need to be honest with themselves about their role in recruiting and supporting Graham Platner despite what was known about him. But at the end of the day, look, I think Democrats are going to come out of this in a stronger position with a candidate who doesn’t have the baggage that he had. It’s going to be a challenge to make that happen between now and July 27th. But that candidate will have an opportunity between July 27th and November to make the case that Suzanne Collins has been uh Susan Collins has been a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. I think they’ll be able to do that without the baggage that Platner clearly has.”
UPDATE 7/13 – Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) says:
“I appreciate that the attention is on those deep blue districts and cities that have had competitive primaries, but we’re going to win a majority in the House with mainstream candidates running in swing districts across the country. In Virginia, we have great candidates like Shannon Taylor, a prosecutor; Elaine Luria, a former member of Congress; Beth Macy, who had led the fight against the opioid crisis. Folks who are going to focus on delivering for their communities.”
