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Harry Reid is Done Talking About Donald Trump

Says he regularly gives advice to Nevada delegation

Former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he’s said all he’s going to say about President Donald Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he’s said all he’s going to say about President Donald Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid never held his tongue when talking about Donald Trump when he was a candidate.

But in an interview published Monday in the Las Vegas Sun, Reid said he didn’t want to talk about the president anymore. 

“I’ve said all I’m going to say about Trump because I can’t say anything good,” he said.

Reid criticized Trump from the Senate floor during the campaign and after the election called Trump “a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate.”

Last month, Reid was announced as the first Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

When asked if there was any one thing that motivated Reid to take the position, he said, “Yeah, one thing in particular: They asked me to do it.”

Reid also spoke about leading the university’s MGM Resorts Public Policy Institute with former Republican House Speaker John A. Boehner, and said the two were friends despite their differences.

“He had his caucus he had to deal with, I had mine,” Reid said. “And some of the biggest problems we faced in Washington during our tenure, Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid were able to work things out. We didn’t deal with a lot of fanfare; we dealt with it behind the scenes.”

Reid and Boehner didn’t always get along, though.

During negotiations to avoid going over the so-called “fiscal cliff” in 2012, Reid said Boehner was running a “dictatorship” to which Boehner responded to Reid, “Go f— yourself.”

Reid also said he keeps in contact with members of Nevada’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Reps. Ruben Kihuen and Jacky Rosen.

“If they call me, I answer the questions,” he said.

But when asked how frequently the calls happen, Reid, who was famous for hanging up the phone on everyone including former President Barack Obama, said, “Often enough. They don’t bother me at all.”

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