On Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sparred with Attorney General Pam Bondi in a hearing of a Senate committee. In the hearing, per CNN, the senator “questioned Bondi over her connections to a law firm involved in a merger scrutinized by the Justice Department.”
Bondi replied that “I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about your military service,” in reference to a controversy many years ago when Blumenthal was first running for the Senate. Then, in a Truth Social post overnight, Donald Trump went on the attack against the Connecticut senator.
“Dick” lied until the midpoint of his political career, convincing everyone, in particular the Fake News Media, that he was a great “War Hero” who lived on the precipice of death in the jungles of Vietnam,” Trump said in the post.
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“The soldiers in his so-called ‘platoon’ came forward and said that they had no idea who this guy was. He was revealed, broke down and admitted, tears flowing from his eyes, that he LIED, a Whopper, one that lasted 20 year [sic]”
“Right now there is a Congressman sitting in prison for lying about his past during a campaign,” Trump said, presumably referencing former Rep. George Santos (R-NY). “He should be allowed to speak no longer!”
Per CNN, Blumenthal appeared on the network the following morning and addressed the allegations, which he called “completely deceptive and distorted.”
Blumenthal acknowledged that he had misspoken earlier in his career when speaking about his military service.
“I served in the reserves and I referred to my service ‘in Vietnam’ on a handful, just a couple of occasions, rather than ‘during Vietnam,” Blumenthal said on CNN. The story first surfaced when he was attorney general of Connecticut, 15 years ago, and he has since been elected to three terms in the Senate.
Trump on Senator Richard Blumenthal: “This guy shouldn’t even be in the U.S. Senate…He should be allowed to speak no longer!” pic.twitter.com/QCQqqVRS3z
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 8, 2025
Trump had earlier gone after Blumenthal, in 2018, and at that point, he also exaggerated, as Blumenthal never made claims about serving in Da Nang province, or made the admission with “tears flowing from his eyes.” Also, it’s highly unlikely that Blumenthal would face a criminal investigation for something that happened so long ago.
As for George Santos, while he certainly was guilty of “lying about his past during a campaign,” he was actually convicted of wire fraud and identity theft. Might Trump be using Blumenthal’s past as an excuse to pardon Santos?
Photo courtesy of Sen. Blumenthal’s official photo.
