Sen. Richard Burr has one of the most sensitive national security positions in the U.S. government as chair of the Intelligence Committee. He's also a sitting U.S. senator. So when he makes "jokes" like this, it's a big problem.
Sen. Richard Burr privately mused over the weekend that gun owners may want to put a "bullseye" on Hillary Clinton, according to audio obtained by CNN.
The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop "nothing made me feel better" than seeing a magazine about rifles "with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it."
"I was a little bit shocked at that—it didn't have a bullseye on it," he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. "But on the bottom right (of the magazine), it had everybody for federal office in this particular state that they should vote for. So let me assure you, there's an army of support out there right now for our candidates."
He did have enough intelligence to say, when confronted about it by CNN that the "comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it." Yeah, "inappropriate" is one way of putting it. Dangerous, inflammatory, unbefitting of an elected federal official might be other ways. The other thing he said, that he did not apologize for, is this: "if Hillary Clinton becomes president, I am going to do everything I can do to make sure four years from now, we still got an opening on the Supreme Court."
Yep. U.S. senator, chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Joking about shooting the Democratic nominee for president and crippling the Supreme Court.
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