Senator Inhofe Plays A Rare Republican Trickā¦And Tells The Truth
Republican Senator Inhofe made theĀ rare political mistakeĀ of telling the actual truth.
Back in 2013, Inhofe signed a letter that asked for an āunprecedentedā amount of disclosures from former Senator Chuck Hagel, who was Obamaās nominee for Secretary of Defense. Senate Republicans claimed they were concerned about the āpotential for foreign conflicts of interest.ā
Fast-forward a few years, and suddenly Republicans have little-to-no concern over blatant conflicts of interest in their partyās President-elect. In fact, Republicans are under fire for ramming through hearings for Trumpās questionable nominees, before those nominees are even properly vetted. The hypocrisy is so blatant that Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a letter outlining what they expected from Trumpās nominees.
TheĀ letter, however, was written by Mitch McConnell himself, eight years ago. Schumer simply crossed out the names and filled in accordingly.
Republican Senator Inhofe however has no qualms about admitting why the standards have been lowered so much for Trumpās nominees.
Itās different now because it was Obama then, and now itās Trump.
As reported by theĀ Huffington Post:
When The Huffington Post asked Inhofe on Monday night if this same standard of disclosing foreign payments should apply to Trumpās Cabinet nominees, he said it shouldnāt.
āSo itās different now because itās Trump?ā we asked.
āThatās just right,ā Inhofe said.
āThatās right?āĀ we asked to clarify.
āYeah,ā he said.
Senator Inhofe Given A Second Chanceā¦And Doubles Down
Even given the chance to walk back his comments, or clarify, Senator Inhofe initially stood by his stunning admission. In the audio below, you can hear stunned and incredulous laughter from reporters as he bluntly admitted that ethical standards are different for Trump.
Later, a spokesperson for Inhofe tried to walk the comments back.
āOf course we donāt believe thereās a double standard when it comes to President-elect Trumpās Cabinet picks,ā said spokespersonĀ Daisy Letendre.
However, Inhofeās statement ā and the actions of the GOP-led Senate ā claim otherwise.