Ohio Gov. John Kasich said during a joint CNN town hall Tuesday with Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders that his instincts were right about President Trump.
Mr. Kasich, who unsuccessfully ran against Mr. Trump in last year’s Republican presidential primary, said the allegations that Mr. Trump shared Israeli intelligence about the Middle East with the Russians is “a very, very serious matter.”
“I don’t like people that say, ’I told you so,’ but you both know how much pressure, criticism and heat I took because I was the one Republican who would not endorse Donald Trump,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.
“The things that have swirled around this White House are the reasons that caused me not to move forward and support him,” he added. “Part of my concern was not just some of what I saw during that campaign, but also there wasn’t a real grasp on the issues that I think are so important.”
His remarks came just hours after The New York Times reported that former FBI Director James Comey wrote in a memo in February that Mr. Trump asked him to end his investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Mr. Kasich said “we have to get to the bottom” of the Comey memo and whether Trump associates colluded with the Russians in attempting to influence the 2016 election.
“This is not a time for Republicans to hide, and I also don’t think it’s a time for Democrats to exploit,” Mr. Kasich said.
He said that while the country has found itself in a “serious situation,” it’s still too early to call for Mr. Trump’s impeachment.
“I don’t think we’re there,” he said. “I don’t think we know what exactly happened.”
Mr. Kasich tweeted a statement earlier Tuesday saying that if the allegations of Mr. Trump sharing classified information with the Russians are true, “[i]t could jeopardize the lives of intelligence agents, damage our relationship with our allies and undermine our ability to gather information from third parties that will enable us to keep America secure.”
“It is the ultimate breach of behavior in the intelligence community. There is no excuse. This should not have happened,” he said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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