President Donald Trump departs the White House on his way to West Virginia on Aug. 3. | Win McNamee/Getty Images Trump hammers Sen. Blumenthal over military record: He 'should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam'

President Donald Trump blasted Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday, calling the Connecticut Democrat “a phony Vietnam con artist” who should take an extended vacation in Vietnam “so he can at least say he was there.”

“I think Senator Blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there,” the president tweeted Monday afternoon.


Trump began teeing off on Blumenthal on Monday morning, suggesting that the senator’s past misstatements about his military service should disqualify him from commenting on the ongoing Russia investigations.

“Interesting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a phony Vietnam con artist!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“Never in U.S. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal. He told stories about his Vietnam battles and conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie,” Trump wrote in a pair of subsequent posts. “He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion?”

Blumenthal had appeared on CNN’s “New Day” minutes before Trump began his online critique of the lawmaker, telling anchor Brianna Keilar that “there is no minimizing or underestimating that attack by the Russians” on the U.S. presidential election last year.

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“It was purposeful and relentless, and it involved propaganda and hacking into our voting machines or at least an attempt to do it and potential collusion by the Trump campaign and then obstruction of justice,” he said.

"Mr. President: Your bullying hasn't worked before and it won't work now. No one is above the law," Blumenthal wrote on Twitter on Monday morning in response to the president's attacks. "This issue isn't about me - it's about the Special Counsel's independence and integrity."