Upton Wants Apology From Trump For Insinuating John Dingell Is In Hell

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A remark by President Trump about the late John Dingell during a rally in Battle Creek as he was being impeached is not sitting well. After mocking the last name of Dingell, he recalled the phone call from his widow, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thanking him for how the federal government honored her husband’s memorial.

“She calls me up, “it’s the nicest thing that’s ever happened to me thank you so much, John would be so thrilled, he’s looking down he’d be so thrilled, thank you so much sir” I said that’s okay, don’t worry about it, maybe he’s looking up, I don’t know, I don’t know, maybe, maybe,” said Trump to a mix of cheers and boos at Kellogg Arena.

Congressman Fred Upton had this response on Twitter: “I’ve always looked up to John Dingell – my good friend and a great Michigan legend. There was no need to ‘dis’ him in a crass political way. Most unfortunate and an apology is due.”

An apology, however, doesn’t appear likely. On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said she doesn’t know what prompted the President to go off script and verbally assault the Dingells, but defended the remarks.

“He has been under attack and under impeachment attack for the last few months, and then just under attack politically for the last two and a half years,” said Grisham. “I think that as we all know, the president is a counter-puncher. It was a very, very supportive and wild crowd, and he was just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the past few days.”

Trump said at Wednesday’s rally in Battle Creek that Debbie Dingell had thanked him for providing “A-plus treatment” after her husband’s death in February. Her response was swift, saying John “earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service.” Dingell went on to say as she prepares for her first holiday season without John, “you brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.” John Dingell served in the U.S. House longer than anyone in history from 1955 to 2015. He was elected to succeed his father, who died in office. The Dingell family has held that office in the U.S. House since 1933.