CBS journalist Ed O’Keefe on Wednesday prodded Republican Governor Larry Hogan, not just about challenging Donald Trump in 2020, but also if the President is even “fit” to be commander-in-chief. CBS This Morning co-host John Dickerson excitedly touted, “Only on CBS This Morning, Hogan reveals he’s hearing from people who think he should consider a primary challenge to the President.”
Clearly eager for Trump to have a primary challenger, O’Keefe mastered the art of asking the same question over and over. He quizzed, “So, are you thinking about running for President in 2020?” The journalist then slightly altered the query: “If the Special Counsel report, though, came back and found pretty troubling evidence against the President, would that be a moment at which maybe you have to think [about running]?”
After Hogan said that such a development would mean that many would run, O’Keefe excitedly buzzed, “So, if anything, you're issuing him a warning?” The journalist then pestered the Maryland governor to say that Trump is unstable: “Well, let me ask you this, since you are such a straight shooter, is the President fit to be president?”
In a historical comparison too good for a journalist to pass up, O’Keefe compared Hogan to his late father, a former GOP congressman:
Standing up to a president is something the Governor learned from his father, former Congressman Lawrence Hogan… who in 1974 became the first Republican congressman to publicly call for Richard Nixon’s impeachment.
O’Keefe didn’t quite get the 2020 announcement he was looking for on Wednesday. But journalists will no doubt keep trying.
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
2/20/20
8:06AM ET
CBS graphic: “Standing Up to the President: Republican Gov. Hogan on National Emergency
JOHN DICKERSON: Here is someone who is going to be dealing with some of that weather. It’s Maryland’s Republican governor. But he’s got other things on his mind. He says he has serious doubts that President Trump can win a second term. Larry Hogan was reelected in November by double digits in a blue state with one of the largest minority populations in the country. Only on CBS This Morning, Hogan reveals he’s hearing from people who think he should consider a primary challenge to the President. Ed O’Keefe spoke with the Maryland statehouse this morning. Ed is in Washington. Ed, good morning.
ED O’KEEFE: Good morning, John. Sixty-two-year old Governor Hogan has won supporters on both sides of the aisle for his straight talking style. In recent months, he’s renewed his concerns about President Trump. This week, for example, Maryland became the only state led by a Republican governor to sue the Trump administration over an emergency over border security.
LARRY HOGAN: You know, I think the President made some real mistakes here and I don’t think declaring, using the declaration of emergency powers is the right thing to do and I think it should be challenged.
O’KEEFE: So, in your view, it’s not a national emergency?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, it’s certainly not. We’ve exaggerated what’s going on at the border. But we do have some issues down there.
O’KEEFE: Standing up to a president is something the Governor learned from his father, former Congressman Lawrence Hogan.
LARRY HOGAN: Republicans were mad as heck at him for decades, really, some of them and the White House was furious. But in retrospect, people say, “What courage.”
O’KEEFE: Who in 1974 became the first Republican congressman to publicly call for Richard Nixon’s impeachment.
LAWRENCE HOGAN: No man, not even the President of the United States, is above the law.
LARRY HOGAN: I probably learned more about integrity in one day from watching my dad during that crisis than most people learn in a lifetime.
O’KEEFE: Now, Hogan believes many in today’s Republican Party have forgotten his father’s lesson.
LARRY HOGAN: I do believe that there are people in Congress and other leaders in the Republican Party who have not stood up when they disagree or when they think that the President is doing something wrong. I have not been afraid to do that.
O’KEEFE: Well, let me ask you this, since you are such a straight shooter, is the President fit to be president?
LARRY HOGAN: Look, I’m not in any position to judge the fitness of the President. I’ve been pretty clear, I don’t like the tone the President uses. I think there are times when he acts irrationally and makes decisions that are not only --- and does things in a way that are not great for the Republican Party or for the country, or for him and his agenda for that matter. I think sometimes he can be his own worst enemy.
O’KEEFE: So, are you thinking about running for President in 2020?
LARRY HOGAN: I was just sworn in a month ago for my second term. I've got a lot of work to do here in Maryland. I would say I'm being approached from a lot of different people, and I guess the best way to put it is I haven't thrown them out of my office.
O’KEEFE: In 2016, Hogan was one of the most high-profile Republican officeholders to withhold support for then-candidate Trump's nomination and little has changed. Would you support him for re-election?
LARRY HOGAN: I don't see how my position would change from before. I haven't become more supportive than I was four years ago. I would say the election is nearly two years away. I don't know who the nominees in either party are going to be.
O’KEEFE: You say you're not certain who the nominees are going to be. Do you know something we don't about the President?
LARRY HOGAN: Not yet. D you know who they're both going to be?
O’KEEFE: No. If the Special Counsel report, though, came back and found pretty troubling evidence against the President, would that be a moment at which maybe you have to think somebody --
LARRY HOGAN: I think -- I don't want to speculate. I think you would see a number of potential challengers in the Republican Party considered jumping in.
O’KEEFE: So, if anything, you're issuing him a warning? The numbers keep going down ---
LARRY HOGAN: I didn't mean it like that. I was giving him friendly advice.
O’KEEFE: Hogan is set to take on a far more prominent role in the coming months as head of the National Governors' Association. As part of that job, he's scheduled to visit Iowa early next month. And Norah, as we like to say in this business, nobody in politics visits Iowa by accident.
