DENVER – Surrogates for Hillary Clinton in recent days have worked to raise the Democratic presidential candidate’s profile in Colorado and the Southwest.
Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Golden, both Democrats, held a call with reporters Tuesday to chastise presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for “rooting on” the economic downturn that began toward the end of 2007.
On Saturday, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also a former U.S. senator from Colorado, campaigned for Clinton across New Mexico. He launched Clinton’s Latino outreach campaign in the state.
The efforts in the West come as Clinton continues to battle accusations that she inappropriately used a private email server while she was secretary of state.
The State Department’s inspector general criticized Clinton in a report delivered to Congress on Wednesday, claiming Clinton had not sought permission to use the private server, and would not have received permission if she had.
Clinton continues to face an FBI investigation and other legal challenges related to the controversy, which has dogged and overshadowed her campaign.
Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders continues to vow to take his message of a political “revolution” through the July national convention, which has split Democrats and made it increasingly difficult for Clinton to woo progressive voters. Sanders is preparing for a last push in California, which has the largest delegate count of any state.
In the call on Tuesday, Hickenlooper and Perlmutter spent less time touting Clinton, as they attacked Trump, keeping with a pillar of the Clinton campaign.
The call was part of a Clinton-led effort, which included a campaign video attacking Trump for cheering on the economic downturn.
“It’s a different world when you’re president of the United States, and even the slightest innuendo can have significant ripples in the economy, not just for the country, but for the world,” Hickenlooper said. “He (Trump) hasn’t demonstrated the discipline that he understands that words have value and meaning.”
The attack revolved around comments by Trump ahead of the economic crisis, when the GOP candidate spoke of the chance to make money if the housing bubble popped.
In 2006, Trump said of the looming crisis, “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy. ... If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know you could make a lot of money,” according to audio posted by CNN.
In a statement Tuesday, Trump defended the comments: “I am a businessman, and I have made a lot of money in down markets. In some cases as much as I’ve made when markets are good. Frankly, this is the kind of thinking our country needs, understanding how to get a good result out of a very bad and sad situation.”
