Involved ‘hush money’

Buttigieg blasts Trump: My marriage never involved ‘hush money’

He revives a line of attack on President Donald Trump.

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg invoked President Donald Trump’s porn star scandal Tuesday, reviving a line of attack that helped catapult his longshot campaign into a viable contender last year.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, said the president told him to “never apologize” for his comments about Buttigieg’s sexuality.

Limbaugh said last week that America isn’t ready to elect a gay man who kisses his husband onstage. Trump, however, suggested last week that he would vote for a gay presidential candidate.

Asked if he takes the president at his word, Buttigieg told CNN’s Erin Burnett at a Las Vegas town hall: “Not if he’s sending out his supporters to talk in this way.”

“The idea of the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Donald Trump lecturing anybody on family values — I mean, sorry but, one thing about my marriage is it’s never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse with him or her,” the former South Bend, Ind., mayor said. “So they wanna debate family values? Let’s debate family values. I’m ready.”

Buttigieg’s line was reminiscent of a phrase he used at his breakout CNN town hall last March, when he called Vice President Mike Pence the “cheerleader of the porn star presidency.”

Buttigieg had also addressed Limbaugh’s remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. He told Dana Bash then that he loves his husband, Chasten, is faithful to him, and isn’t “gonna take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”

Trump was involved in a $130,000 payout to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent their alleged affair from coming out in the 2016 election in the aftermath of the “Access Hollywood” tape.

On Tuesday, Buttigieg also used Trump as example of why age shouldn’t always be equated with wisdom to beat back criticism of his youth and inexperience.

“We got the oldest president in American history,” the 38-year-old said. “How is that working out for us right now?”