New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster is blaming Donald Trump for her resolution to retire.
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Kuster mentioned her resolution to announce her retirement from Congress in March was partly about setting a “higher instance” to youthful generations.
“I’m attempting to set a greater instance,” mentioned. “I feel there are colleagues — and a few of whom are nonetheless very profitable and really productive — however others who simply keep without end.”
When requested about her enthusiasm for the Trump period, she added: “I’m simply not one of the best gladiator for it proper now.”
Kuster went on to assert that the January sixth protests, through which demonstrators expressed their anger on the widespread voter fraud that tainted the 2020 presidential election, had taken a heavy toll on her.
“I’ve mentioned considerably facetiously, he tried to kill me as soon as, I’m not accessible for that once more,” Kuster mentioned of Trump.
“What we went via on Jan. 6 and his try to overthrow the federal government took a toll.”
“That was that was actually onerous, and never simply personally, however on my capability to work throughout the aisle.”
REPORT: Congresswoman Annie Kruster (D-NH) points a farewell message as she retires from the Home – The Hill
“[Trump] tried to okay*ll me as soon as, I’m not accessible for that once more.”
“What we went via on Jan. 6 and his try to overthrow the federal government took a toll. That was… pic.twitter.com/JER97GzMxD
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 26, 2024
Though Kuster introduced her retirement properly earlier than Trump’s landslide election victory, she says she all the time felt he had a superb probability of profitable due to the weak spot of then-candidate Joe Biden’s marketing campaign.
“Simply in my coronary heart, [I] reached the conclusion that this is able to be a really difficult marketing campaign for him, and to place himself on the market for one more four-year time period was was going to be a battle,” she defined.
Kuster additionally had a name with Biden and The New Democratic Coaliation through which they urged him to drop out the race.
“It was painful,” Kuster mentioned. “I haven’t had these sort of conversations since I talked to my very own dad and mom about, you realize, their growing old and their limitations.”
Having served as New Hampshire’s consultant since 2013, Kuster’s remaining vote was on the December twentieth for the spending invoice supposed to avert a authorities shutdown.
“I’ve by no means waited so lengthy for one final vote,” she mentioned. “[It is] a giant a part of the explanation to depart. … There’s a theme growing when billionaires make selections about hard-working households’ lives, it comes out simply imply. It’s chilly hearted.”
She might be changed in Congress by Maggie Goodlander, a outstanding lawyer and spouse of outgoing White Home Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan.