Senator Richard Burr has apologized after apparently joking that a gun magazine didn’t put a bullseye on a photo of Hillary Clinton.
Burr made the comment to a group of Republican volunteers in Mooresville on Saturday. CNN obtained the audio and released it last night.
“Nothing made me feel any better than when I walked into a gun shop - I think yesterday in Oxford - and there was copy of Rifleman on the counter,” Burr said to volunteers. “It’s got a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it... I was a little bit shocked that it didn’t have a bullseye on it.”
In the 44-minute recording, Burr also vowed to do everything in his power to block Hillary Clinton from filling a Supreme Court vacancy.
Burr, a Republican seeking his third term in the Senate, is locked in a tight race with Democrat Deborah Ross.
In a statement, Ross criticized Burr.
“Senator Burr joked about violence against another person,” Ross said. “It was out of line and while he apologized, he should not have said it in the first place. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a disturbing pattern of Senator Burr failing to represent North Carolina values.”
In the recording, Burr – the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee - also takes a measure of credit for the Clinton email scandal.
http://youtu.be/muaIOpkBF88
“I’ll tell you a little secret,” Burr said. “The FBI never would have investigated the emails had it not been for a letter that Bob Corker and I sent to the inspector general of the intelligence community that kicked this all off.”
Burr also called the North Carolina media “disgusting” and reiterated his support for Donald Trump.