White House Communications Director Steven Cheung hit back at Sen. Richard Blumenthal after the Democratic lawmakers sounded the alarms about the administration putting boots on the ground in Iran.
Cheung, known for his signature juvenile insults, gave a vile new take on an ongoing Trump attack on Blumenthal.
“Da Nang D---head is a known liar and fraud. Look no further than his lie about serving in Vietnam. He didn’t,” Cheung wrote.
“Da Nang D----” is what Trump has been calling the Connecticut senator for years.
Cheung’s attack on Blumenthal, which was reposted by the White House rapid response account on X, came after the senator issued a stark warning after being briefed on the war in Iran.
“I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate,” Blumenthal said.
He was speaking in the U.S. Capitol after attending a briefing on the war, which has now entered its eleventh day.
“I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war. My answers have been unanswered,” the senator told reporters. “I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives, of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives for it.”
He also raised concerns over the Russians reportedly helping Iran, warning, “Literally, Russia seems to be aiding our enemy, actively and intensively with intelligence and perhaps with other means.”
The White House has not ruled out U.S. boots on the ground, and Trump administration officials have not directly disputed a report that Russia was helping Iran target Americans, only noting that the Kremlin said it was not and insisting it did not matter.
Leavitt was asked about Blumenthal’s concerns about land troops on Tuesday, but she argued that Democrats on Capitol Hill were being “quite disingenuous” and accused them of “playing politics.”
“As for boots on the ground, the president has talked about this repeatedly. Wisely, he does not rule options out as commander in chief,” Leavitt said.
But Cheung resorted to name-calling on X with his update to “Da Nang D---” which Trump has repeatedly used to attack Blumenthal for years.
The senator has admitted in the past that he misstated serving in Vietnam, when he had in fact received multiple military deferments from 1965 to 1970. Starting in 1970, he served in the Marine Corps Reserve, but he never actually deployed to Vietnam.
Trump escalated his attack on Blumenthal last year when he accused him of lying about his military service and called for an investigation into the Connecticut senator. Blumenthal shot back that the allegations were distorted at the time.
The president himself never served during the Vietnam War, avoiding the draft five times, including four times to complete his education before receiving a diagnosis of bone spurs.
