Utah GOP chair not stepping down after CNN interview goes south

Source: KUTV

(KUTV) James Evans, Chair of the Utah Republican Party, said he would not step down from his post, after he made comments on CNN that led the anchor, Carol Costello, to abruptly cut-off the interview.

Evans, in trying to defend Donald Trump, went after Hillary Clinton by bringing up allegations that her husband, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton, has a child that was born decades ago out of wedlock.

 Alliance for a Better Utah’s Rachel Sanders said Evans’ behavior was unbecoming of a leader and called for members of the state GOP to ask him to step down.

“They should have a leader that behaves better on national TV,” said Sanders.

She said since Bill Clinton is not running for president, it was inappropriate for Evans to bring up his behavior during a discussion about presidential candidates.

“We are not even discussing Hillary’s behavior. We are trying to talk about her husband’s behavior and why is that? Is a woman only what her husband does?”

Evans said his comments happened out of frustration for the intense media attention on Trump’s alleged sexual harassment of women who have come forward publicly in recent days.

He doesn’t think Hillary Clinton gets the same kind of media scrutiny and he tried to make that point by bringing up the Bill Clinton allegations.

“That story’s been around for 20 years but there’s been a wall of silence against even talking about that on the media,” said Evans.

Sanders said she doesn’t know whether Bill Clinton does or does not have a love child, but that should not be part of a discussion about two candidates who are tied in Utah; that’s what the CNN interview was about.

Evans said while he won’t step down because he feels Alliance for a Better Utah is “an arm” of the Democratic Party in Utah.

Sanders said while she doesn’t deny her group’s left political leanings, she denies Evans’ allegations. She said her group strives to make all Utah politicians accountable.

Evans said he would do the interview differently if he had a chance.

“Should I have gone there? Probably not cause it was not the polite thing to do, but sometimes the level of frustration gets to that point,” he said.

 Read the KUTV article here
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