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Uh oh! A brand new war for team trump.

Bill Weld Announces Primary Challenge Against Trump: He Doesn't Even Pretend To Be Conservative

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld announced Monday in an interview on CNN that he will challenge President Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, after several months of implying he would do so.

Weld told CNN’s "The Lead With Jake Tapper," that he is as "a Republican who works across the aisle and gets things done" and said he would never vote for President Trump.

“Donald Trump is not an economic conservative. He doesn’t even pretend to be. The country deserves to have some fiscal constraint and conservatism,” he said. "I'm not saying I would ever endorse a Democrat in but I could not support the president."

JAKE TAPPER, CNN: We have some breaking news in our 2020 lead. The former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts, Bill Weld, is here with me, live in studio, and Mr. Weld has something to announce. Governor?

BILL WELD: Jake, I'm announcing that I'm running for president of the united states as a Republican against the president in 2020.

TAPPER: You're hoping to take him on in the primaries?

WELD: In the primaries. I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff we've had out of the White House the last two years, that would be a political tragedy and I would fear for the republic. I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run.

TAPPER: So President Trump's re-election campaign just announced they have raised $30 million in the first quarter. The Republican party is -- has been reshaped to meet President Trump's desires. He has the support within the party at nearly 90%. Do you really think you can defeat him in the primaries?

WELD: I do. I've done it before, particularly in New Hampshire, where I'm spending a lot of time. It's one vote at a time and one voter at a time. And you've got to meet them. But what we have now is a president who mocks the rule of law. I spent seven years in the Justice Department trying to keep the politics out of law he's trying to put it in. A president who says, we don't need a free press, who says, climate change is a complete hoax. He's not paying attention. I doubt very much he's made a study of any of those issues, but he seems to have difficulty, in my opinion, and I was a prosecutor for quite a while, he has a difficulty conforming his conduct to the requirements of law. That's a serious matter in the oval office.

TAPPER: So, just in terms of your political strategy, you want to spend a lot of time in New Hampshire, and New Hampshire is a state where independents can vote in either primary.

WELD: It's a crossover primary. New Hampshire, really all six New England states, the mid-Atlantic states, California, Oregon, Washington, very receptive territory. The president is not well liked in California. The intermountain west, where I spent a lot of time in the last cycle. It would be a national campaign. 20 states do permit that crossover voting, which is more than a beachhead, so I'm very much looking forward to the campaign. Anyone that wants to be helpful, Weld2020.org.

TAPPER: The Mueller report, you talked about, you served in the Justice Department, you know Bob Mueller.

WELD: Bob was my deputy in the justice department. He's the straightest guy I've ever met. A wonderful human being. Very thorough, very great prosecutor.

TAPPER: So how much do you think of his report that we're told is going to be released to the public and to Congress Thursday morning, how much do you think can be redacted and still be a credible presentation to Congress?

WELD: It's a piece of cake. All you really have to do is redact classified information and needlessly derogatory personal material. But that's not a great labor. I think the whole report should be made public so that everybody can see it. Not just two committees of Congress, but the American public can see it. They paid for it.

TAPPER: The president says he's been exonerated on these allegations of conspiracy with Russia. And that you can't obstruct a crime that hasn't taken place, which obviously, the attorney general, Bill Barr, agrees with to a degree. We know Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee and elsewhere are going to keep investigating. What's your take on the obstruction of justice charge and the president's claim that he's been exonerated?

WELD: No, I'm not really buying that. And if I were the president of the United States and I had been found not guilty of one of 20 charges that could have been levied against me, I'm not sure I would be holding a press conference to celebrate that.

TAPPER: And what do you make of the obstruction charge?

WELD: In the Mueller report, you know, I don't think the jury has come back on that one. But there's plenty of other potential witness tampering obstruction possibilities arising out of all the Manafort and Michael Cohen material that has nothing to do with the Mueller report.

TAPPER: Let me give you the criticism that I think you're going to face. You are a Republican from a different era in American history. You are a moderate Republican. You were the Massachusetts governor. You were able to work with Democrats. You represent a sort of --

WELD: Well, precisely!

TAPPER: Country club Republicanism.

WELD: No, no, no, no, no. A Republican who works across the aisle and gets things done. I was re-elected with 71% of the vote because I brought everybody in. I would have a bipartisan cabinet if I get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And, you know, I'm an economic conservative. I was voted the most fiscally conservative governor in the United States by "The Wall Street Journal" and the Cato Institute. I cut spending year over year.

Donald Trump is not an economic conservative. He doesn't even pretend to be. And, you know, it's -- the country deserves to have some fiscal restraint and conservatism and cutting spending in Washington, D.C. Right now, all there really is coming out of Washington is divisiveness, and both parties are responsible for that, and but the grand master of that is the president himself. I've never seen such bitterness in this country.

TAPPER: If you don't win the nomination, are you going to run as an independent?

WELD: No. No, I don't think so. But I could not support Donald Trump for the president. I'm not saying I would ever endorse a Democrat in but I could not support the president.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/04/16/bill_weld_announces_primary_challenge_against_trump.html