The midterm election was less than a month ago, and speculation has already begun about who will top the Democratic ticket in 2020.
Fresh off a successful re-election bid, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has quickly become a favorite among political analysts to challenge President Donald Trump in two years, something she says she is “still thinking about.”
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday morning, Klobuchar admitted she has been thinking about a possible presidential run, but stopped short of making any commitments.
“Well, people are talking to me about this, I think, in part because I’ve worked really hard to go not just where it’s comfortable but where it’s uncomfortable, and had — did well in a number of those places that Donald Trump won,” Klobuchar said. “And I also am someone that, for those that are exhausted with politics, likes to get things done.”
“But right now, I am just still thinking about this, talking to people,” she added. “I’m sorry to say, I have no announcement for you on your show.”
Klobuchar has long been floated as a potential 2020 contender, however, the speculation flared up again as she sailed through the midterms, winning 60 percent of the vote.
The Washington Post has Klobuchar on their 2020 shortlist, writing that “if Democrats want a pragmatic, smart pick, she’s making a case for it.” Buzzfeed News also included Klobuchar as a “potentially appealing” choice for Democrats in 2020. Writing for Politico, liberal pundit and political analyst Bill Scher argued that Klobuchar “deserves a fresh look as a presidential candidate.”
During the interview with George Stephanopoulos, Klobuchar also touched on immigration, claiming Trump “gut-punched immigration reform.”
“Secondly, comprehensive immigration reform, he has gut punched us on that a number of times,” Klobuchar said. “We have the will to put the money at the border for better security and combine it with some sensible reforms, including things like a path to citizenship, things like making sure that we have workers on our fields and in our factories that we need. But he has chosen instead to weaponize this, to politicize it and it is also wrong for our work with the rest of the world.”
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer, slammed Klobuchar’s comments on immigration on Fox & Friends Monday morning. Bongino referenced a deal that was on the the table that would have provided a fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) in exchange for border wall funding, saying that Klobuchar was lying about Trump’s willingness to negotiate on the matter. It is Democrats that don’t want to make a deal, Bongino said, because they don’t want to give Trump a policy victory.
“Amy Klobuchar going on a national television program and claiming that deal never happened and that Republicans have no solutions on immigration … that’s a lie!” Bongino said. “Amy Klobuchar just made that up. And if you believe it, you’re a fool.”
“They are obsessed with taking this president down. It’s disgusting,” he added.
Watch Klobuchar’s full interview on ABC on Sunday here.
