Rep. Matt Rosendale is threatening to take legal action against former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp after she claimed on a podcast that the Montana Republican withdrew from the Senate race because he impregnated a young staffer.
“This is 100% false and defamatory and former Senator Heitkamp will be hearing from our lawyers soon,” Ron Kovach, a spokesperson for Mr. Rosendale, said in a statement.
Ms. Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat who was defeated in 2018 by Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, made the comment in an appearance on the “Talking Feds with Harry Litman” podcast.
“I think [the GOP] caucus may lose a member in the next couple days,” Ms. Heitkamp alleged. “Just to gossip a little bit: There’s a reason why Rosendale backed out of that Senate race — the rumor is he impregnated a 20-year-old staff person.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Heitkamp, who is now at the McCain Institute, but did not immediately hear back.
Mr. Rosendale dropped out of the race over a week ago — just days after he launched the official Senate campaign. He has not officially announced whether he plans to run for his current House seat.
However, former Montana GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg last week announced his bid to replace Mr. Rosendale in Montana’s 2nd District.
Mr. Rehberg served as Montana’s lone congressman from 2001 to 2013 and retired from politics after unsuccessful Senate bids against Democrats Max Baucus and Jon Tester.
Following months of suggesting he would take on Mr. Tester, Mr. Rosendale decided to not run for the Montana Senate seat because “the hill was just too steep” after former President Donald Trump endorsed GOP candidate Tim Sheehy.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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