When it comes to who he would support in the presidential election, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he hasn’t ruled out endorsing President Donald Trump.
In an interview just a week after he voted to find Trump guilty on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Manchin said of possibly endorsing Trump, “I don’t rule anything out. I really don’t rule anything out.”
“I’m always going to be for what’s best for my country. Everybody can change. Maybe the president will change, you know? Maybe that uniter will come out, versus the divider,” he added.
Manchin, who was seen as one of three Democratic senators who might cross party lines to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment, has been on the receiving of Trump’s attacks on Twitter for his vote.
However, after Trump labeled him “Joe Munchkin,” the West Virginia senator said he wasn’t bothered by the attacks, and added that he hopes to work with the president on future legislation.
They are really mad at Senator Joe Munchkin in West Virginia. He couldn’t understand the Transcripts. Romney could, but didn’t want to!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2020
Manchin said he hopes Trump will move on, as he did after Trump campaigned against his re-election in 2018.
“It’s not different when he wanted to have lunch the week after I was elected. And he said: ‘I knew we couldn’t beat you.’ And I said: ‘It wasn’t for lack of trying.’ Boom, it’s over, let it go. I did. I’m asking him to do the same thing I did.”
He added that he might not endorse anyone during the 2020 presidential election, but if he endorses a candidate, it would be the person that “has heart and soul and compassion.”