U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal sees a “flagrant abuse” of norms and traditions throughout President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House, the Connecticut Democrat said during an appearance on The Connecticut Mirror‘s “In The Room” series.
Appearing Tuesday night from West Hartford Town Hall with host John Dankosky, Blumenthal was peppered with questions about the temporary hold on federal nutrition assistance, Trump’s recent threat to Democratic members of Congress and the dismissal of criminal indictments of officials who have clashed with the president.
As he answered each of these questions, Blumenthal essentially started with a caveat about how he views the administration.
“We are living with an administration that is cruel and stupid in a lot of what it does,” Blumenthal said when discussing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s unprecedented hold on SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
The hour-long conversation delved into familiar themes and issues that Blumenthal has waded into in recent months, including his concerns of politically motivated prosecutions and investigations.
The three-term Democratic senator questioned U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at a Senate hearing last month about any conversations she may have had with Trump regarding the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. That line of inquiry landed him in hot water with Trump, who issued a threat of an investigation into the senator over a past characterization of his military service.
On Monday, criminal indictments of Comey as well as of New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed as the judge found that Trump’s appointment of the interim prosecutor was unlawful.
Blumenthal, who formerly served as Connecticut’s attorney general, said that other than the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration, there has generally been a tradition to keep the Justice Department independent from the White House.
“What we’re seeing is the most kind of flagrant abuse of that tradition and norm. Theoretically, the president could say and he has said ‘go after so and so’ regardless of the evidence, but here’s what happens: The cases are dismissed,” Blumenthal said, referring to the dismissals this week of the Comey and James cases.
He has proposed various bills as a counter, including one aimed at preventing political prosecutions that “would essentially prohibit these kinds of contacts between the White House directing the Justice Department.”
But Democrats have little recourse as the minority party in both chambers of Congress. And Blumenthal was candid about the likely fate of some of that legislation.
“I’m very clear there is not a chance that we’re going to have this legislation adopted any more than my legislation on the Insurrection Act that would prohibit the use of military troops against American citizens without some congressional review,” he said. “There are a lot of measures where guardrails and safeguards should be imposed that we will not see in this administration.”
Blumenthal also aired concerns about the start of investigations into some of the members of Congress who posted a video addressing U.S. service members and encouraging them to protect the Constitution, even if that means defying illegal orders. The video featured six Democratic lawmakers who are all veterans of the military and intelligence services.
Trump called it “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
“I was just aghast. I would have been astonished, but it is President Trump, so we’re accustomed to hearing pretty astonishing things from him,” Blumenthal said Tuesday.
Blumenthal pointed to the bipartisan reaction a mere two months ago “when all of us agreed to lower the temperature” after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot. He said he expects those members of Congress to face a deluge of threats.
During an appearance on Fox News, Trump walked back the comments about the video, saying he wasn’t calling for the lawmakers’ execution. “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble,” Trump said.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said he didn’t agree with Trump’s comments, but he believed people on both sides of the aisle have contributed to the growing political violence in the country.
Blumenthal agreed with the sentiment that political violence has intensified in the U.S. and emanates from both ends of the political spectrum.
“There was a point where I received the intelligence briefings on threats to this country where they shifted from fears about extremists from outside the country to extremists within the country, and this is not limited to [the] right or left,” he said.
Blumenthal was originally supposed to sit down for the “In the Room” event last month but needed to stay in Washington for Senate votes in the early days of the government shutdown. After a record 43 days, the federal government reopened after the Senate struck a deal.
The Connecticut senator reiterated his disappointment over the deal since it didn’t meet Democrats’ demands over health care, specifically on the extension of enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans.
Congress remains locked in a fierce debate over the fate of the tax credits, which were established under Democrats’ pandemic relief bill in 2021 and later extended through the end of 2025.
The subsidies were intended to be temporary, and when they were extended for another two years in a different Democratic bill in 2022, the party at the time had control of the White House and all of Congress. Shouldn’t they have made it more permanent when they had the chance instead of subjecting it to budget fights?
“It’s probably more frequent than not that government programs go for a period of time and they have to be reauthorized. So that’s not too unusual. But the point here is these subsidies were expected to be wildly popular, and guess what? They are wildly popular, and you know where most of the people who benefit from them live — in red states that Donald Trump won,” Blumenthal said.
He said if Democrats win the majority in the 2026 midterms, there’s “no question that we will try to adopt a more permanent solution.”
But as things currently stand, the enhanced subsidies are set to expire on Dec. 31. And without congressional action, premiums are expected to rise for many in 2026.
Reports suggested Trump was warming to a temporary extension of the subsidies for another two years in a plan that was expected to be released on Monday. It would also limit eligibility to those who make up to 700% of the federal poverty line.
While an announcement was never officially scheduled for Monday and the details were light, the forthcoming proposal was delayed as the framework started to get pushback from some congressional Republicans skeptical of the Affordable Care Act, according to MS Now.
The Senate is expected to take a vote on extending the subsidies by the second week of December. But Blumenthal isn’t holding his breath on the outcome.
“Donald Trump over the weekend said, ‘OK we’ll extend the subsidies for a couple of years,’ and he was immediately deluged by his right wing with criticism, so I think you have to recognize that we’re up against MAGA here,” Blumenthal said. “I think there will be a vote, and, unfortunately, I think Republicans will be bludgeoned into voting against health care tax credits extensions.”
Lisa Hagen is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).