Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson needs to get his house in order. On MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Johnson’s running mate, William Weld, not only disagreed with the campaign’s official statement, but said he was “vouching for” his Democrat opponent, Hillary Clinton.
No, this is not The Onion.
When Rachel Maddow asked Weld if he would encourage voters to stop Donald Trump, instead of voting for the Libertarian ticket, he responded, “Well, I’m here vouching for Mrs. Clinton, and I think it’s high time someone did.” He called Clinton “a person of high moral character” and insisted that “there’s nothing there” regarding the new revelations from FBI Director James Comey last month.
On the email scandal, Weld added, “It’s not a good thing, and I think it’s a distraction and we should just ignore it.” This flatly contradicted a statement released by the Johnson-Weld campaign last Friday, a statement extremely critical of Clinton and supportive of the Libertarian ticket as an alternative to her and Trump.
“The newest revelations about Hillary Clinton demonstrate why America should be scared of both Clinton and Trump,” Johnson declared in the statement. “We have a student that is so corrupted that parents all over have to apologize to their children for the leadership we are giving them.” Johnson admitted that he is not perfect, but insisted that “a President should embody honesty, integrity, and an appreciation for the diversity of people he or she is elected to represent.”
“Bill Weld and I offer the only opportunity for a Presidential ticket we can trust,” Johnson said. Pity it seems his running-mate does not agree.
Indeed, Maddow quoted from the statement, adding, “It sounds like you do not agree with this statement from your own campaign.”
“That’s correct, that’s correct,” Weld haplessly responded. “You know, in fairness, Gary and I have not agreed on a number of substantive issues in this campaign.”
One week ago, Weld took the unusual step of delivering a campaign statement and a press conference urging Republicans to vote against Trump. This was unusual for a third-party candidate, but it makes sense, so long as the Libertarian vice presidential candidate would repeat the argument, urging Democrats to vote against Clinton. Instead, he allowed Maddow to push him into the Democrat’s corner.
Next Page: While Weld endorsed Hillary, Johnson said she might get impeached if elected.
While Weld was cow-towing to the Democrat, Johnson took to “The Craig Silverman Show” on the Colorado radio station KNUS to say that Clinton’s email scandal “may well end up in impeachment.”
“This is Watergate kind of stuff,” Johnson declared. “This is really, really deep, real stuff and all you have to say, all you have to recognize is the FBI would not have done this — this is not political, this is anything but political, because of the fact they dropped this investigation in July, saying, to clear the decks for the election.”
“That was also clearly, I don’t even want to call it a political move, as much as a move that would clear up the election, that people would feel like this was not overhanging,” the Libertarian explained. “Well, now it’s overhanging, and it’s overhanging for a reason.”
Johnson’s comments were so strong, his spokesperson Joe Hunter felt it necessary to clarify: “Gov. Johnson was not advocating for impeachment.” Nevertheless, Hunter had to acknowledge that his candidate said “it is possible that an investigation of a President Hillary Clinton may end up in impeachment.”
Did you hear that, Weld? That’s what trying to win sounds like. Maybe you should give it a try.
Catch the videos on the next page.
Here’s Bill Weld disagreeing with his own campaign.
Governor Weld, critical of Comey's last-minute letter, does not agree with his running mate on this matter. https://t.co/xazmppMnjX
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) November 2, 2016
And here he is, vouching for Hillary.
Bill Weld, Libertarian V.P. candidate "vouching for" but not quite endorsing Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/TrHdheUHJ4
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) November 2, 2016
For perspective, here’s what his running mate said.
Good news for @GovGaryJohnson? "What do you think" @BrookeBCNN? pic.twitter.com/uIx64okZ88
— Matt Wilstein (@mattwilstein) October 28, 2016
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