Rep. Craig addresses claims made by Sen. John Hoffman

Waking up with Fox 9 Morning News. When her opponent would check on our family, she asked for my... She asked that I endorse her campaign. Yeah, she sent a dear friend out twice. Once when I was in the ICU and once at her home. Honest to God, true story. And I'm being public about it because it really hurt me. Well, that is Senator John Hoffman claiming that U.S. Senate candidate Angie Craig never visited in the hospital after last year's assassination attempt, but he says she then sought his endorsement while he was still in the ICU. Hoffman's wife posted that clip on social media after he was making the claims at a campaign event for Peggy Flanagan on Friday night. Representative Angie Craig joins us now here. We had this interview scheduled all ahead of this. I appreciate you still being here this morning. I know your campaign has come out with a statement saying that's not true, that is false, but I want to give you the opportunity since you're here to respond. Well, I can't imagine what the Hoffman family has gone through over this last year, but I would never, and I did never, and frankly, no one would ever send someone to an ICU to talk about politics with what happened to the Hoffman family. I talked to John Hoffman once in September after he had endorsed a number of other candidates, after he began making a number of political speeches publicly about the fact that I would like his support in my U.S. Senate race, but I, again, don't know exactly what John is talking about, but I would never do that. No one would ever do that. So are you saying he's lying? I'm saying that the timeline of events is I reached out to the Hoffmans via text to send them our prayers immediately after the shooting and that I didn't actually make contact with the Hoffmans until he reentered politics because I didn't think that was appropriate, and I only had one conversation with the senator in September. The majority of that conversation was about how he was doing, but, of course, I respect Senator Hoffman, and I would love his support as he had given to so many candidates prior to that period of time. Let's talk about the race. We were just talking off camera. It's intense. It's getting a lot of attention. It's definitely garnering a lot of information and a lot of opinions. I know that one of the issues that seems to divide even within the DFL party is Israel, and you have received some criticism within your own party for a move, a vote that you made, basically not stopping funding to Israel. Your response? Well, that was an amendment vote, and it was an overly broad amendment that actually would have also taken away all funding to Palestinians in Gaza. So, you know, I voted no. I would note that two of my three Democratic colleagues in Congress voted present because they, too, know that it's not the way you do foreign policy in this country. And, look, Benjamin Netanyahu, I believe, needs to go. I hope in the fall elections he loses his job. We do need to reset our relationship with the government of Israel, and I hope it's with a new leader after the fall. You decided not to seek the DFL endorsement. Explain your reasoning behind that, and do you still stand by that decision? Yeah, I think that Democratic primary voters throughout the state of Minnesota should each get a voice in a Democratic Senate primary. This Senate seat hasn't been open for a very long time. And the idea that 1,200 DFLers get to decide for the entire state, while I respect their participation in that process, I just truly believe that this is the more Democratic approach. I know you've been all over, all over the state, all over the area. When you're talking to voters, what are their top two, three issues that they're really focused on right now? Well, for Democratic primary voters, it's really concerns about democracy and the Trump administration. And, you know, I've voted to impeach Donald Trump twice. I know how to make a fist, metaphorically, and take them on. And at the same time, I know how to get things done. I've passed 13 bills as a member of Congress. And their second concern is cost of living and lowering the cost of health care and groceries and taking on the Trump administration on their terrible policies have been a huge priority for me. I will say for general election voters, the top issue is actually fraud. And I do believe that this presents a unique vulnerability to the lieutenant governor who helped run the state for the last eight years if she is the Democratic candidate at the end of the finish line. No doubt these topics will be discussed. You have a debate coming up. Tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, I'm excited about the debate tomorrow. I wish there had been more debates. I've accepted two additional debates that the lieutenant governor has not been willing to accept. I think it's a shame that we only have one real debate in an entire U.S. Senate primary. But I'll look forward to making the case to Democratic voters across Minnesota that I'm the candidate who can take on Trump and his attacks on democracy, that I'm the person with the experience on day one to help lower costs, and that I am the best candidate to beat Michelle Tafoya because if we don't win elections, we actually can't stop the Trump administration. Sure. Tafoya, definitely the front-runner on the GOP side. Representative, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. We should note that we did reach out to the Hoffman campaign in camp for response, and also we did have lieutenant governor on this program about a month ago as well. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.