You mean the guy who was part of Hillary's failed 2008 campaign and was hated by most of her staff?
That's the best you have? Really?
Okay, here we go.
en.wikipedia.org
According to
Politico, Penn has become disenchanted with the leftward shift in the Democratic Party. Philippe Reines suggested that Penn shouldered too much of the blame for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential defeat. Bill Clinton described Penn's recent 2018-19 commentary as "sour grapes", suggesting “[Penn] wasn’t invited back into the [2016] campaign.”
[70]
Advocacy against Trump impeachment
[
edit]
Throughout 2018 and 2019, Penn was vocal with his criticisms of Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's
probe into
Russian interference in the 2016 election, regularly appearing on
Fox News and contributing columns to
The Hill in which he, in the words of
Politico, "bashed" the probe and ensuing attempt to impeach then-President
Donald Trump.
[70]
During this period,
CNN and
MSNBC declined to book Penn and his frequent appearances were criticized by some who said he was seeking revenge against Democrats for saddling him with Hillary Clinton's defeat in the
2008 U.S. presidential election.
[70] The Daily Beast wrote in 2018 that Penn "has emerged in the last year as one of [Trump's] most outspoken defenders."
[71]
In an August 4, 2018, appearance on
Fox News, Penn called Mueller's investigation into Russian collusion “a national waste of time".
[72] Penn published several columns which criticized Mueller and political and legal adversaries of Trump.
[71][73] In online opinion columns, he alleged that Mueller and "Democratic-leaning lawyers" were acting improperly in trying to prepare a charge of
obstruction of justice against Trump.
[74] In these articles, Penn did not disclose that his firm had previously done work for Trump in the 1980s.
[71]
Allegations of "deep state" conspiracy
[
edit]
Penn has used the term "
deep state" to refer to what he characterizes as Democratic operatives within the government who seek to undermine and sabotage
Trump's presidency.
[73] “I’ve seen in 1998, I spent a year fighting this thing with
Ken Starr and I think this thing is just plain wrong and it has got to be ended and stopped,” he told Fox News in May 2018.
[75] He has alleged that
Rod Rosenstein, who served as deputy attorney general in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019, had conflicts of interest that should have precluded his involvement in investigations into Trump.
[76]
Trump 2020 presidential campaign
[
edit]
Penn met with Trump in February and November 2019 to discuss Trump's
re-election campaign. After the latter meeting, Penn told
The Washington Post, "It's the second time I have ever met with the President. I'm not counseling him. I'm not advising him." Penn also told the
Post that his discussions with Trump concerned only data that was already publicly available.
[77]
2024 election commentary
[
edit]
In an April 2023 op-ed, Penn outlined a path to victory for a presidential candidate to win through appeals to an educated, suburban base
[78] and expressed hope for
Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, citing, among other things, a motivation to prevent Trump from becoming president again.
[79]