Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu is drawing criticism for a remark he made about Hillary Clinton while warming up a New Hampshire crowd for Donald Trump on Friday.
"Do you think Bill was referring to Hillary when he said, 'I did not have sex with that woman?" Sununu said, a reference to Bill Clinton's 1998 denial that he engaged in sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The line drew laughs from many of those at the Atkinson Country Club, and came on the heels of another joke about how men always leave the toilet seat up. He then chuckled and said, "Bob Smith made me do it," a reference to the former U.S. Senator who preceded him at the podium. Smith had just spent several minutes doing a Bill Clinton impersonation.
Sununu, 77, served as governor from 1983 to 1989, and as chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991. His son John E. Sununu served as a U.S. Senator from 2003 to 2009, and his other son, Chris Sununu, is currently running for New Hampshire governor.
Less than an hour after Trump's event concluded, Chris Sununu's opponent in the governor's race issued a statement saying he should apologize for his father's "crude and anti-women jokes about Hillary Clinton's sex life."
"This is beneath the office of Governor of New Hampshire, and Chris Sununu should put common decency ahead of his own political interests by condemning these comments and tell Governor Sununu to apologize immediately," said Matt Trojan, communications director for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern.
Van Ostern's campaign also held a conference call Friday to demand that Chris Sununu apologize and disavow his father's comments. On that call, former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan called John H. Sununu's comments "sexist and chauvinist" and said they have "no place in the Granite State."
