Story highlights
Coffman represents a swing district
He stood by his call for Spicer's ouster
A moderate Denver-area Republican repeated his call for President Donald Trump to fire White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
“I don’t think he’s serving this President very well,” said Rep. Mike Coffman on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” Thursday.
Speaking with constituents at a rowdy town hall event Wednesday evening, Coffman faced vocal criticism from constituents who said they wanted him to push back against Trump. When one asked about Spicer’s claim earlier this week that “Hitler didn’t use gas on his own people,” Coffman told the crowd Spicer “needs to go.”
The controversial press secretary has apologized for the comments in several interviews since then. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Coffman said Thursday that Spicer had repeatedly created a distraction – and stood by his call for the press secretary to be fired.
“I think when you have a spokesman or a press secretary that himself becomes the story more than once and deflects from what that job is about in terms of representing the White House – I think it is time for him to go,” Coffman said. “I just don’t believe he’s capable of doing the job at the level that it needs to be done, and, again, he’s not serving this President well.”
At raucous town hall, GOP congressman confronts anger about Trump
Coffman hails from a swing district outside of Denver, and he won re-election by under 10 points, while Trump lost Colorado to Hillary Clinton by about five points. Democrats have already declared an opponent to challenge Coffman in 2018.
In a separate interview on the same program, former Trump transition team member Anthony Scaramucci said he hoped Trump stood by Spicer.
“He’s a terrific guy,” Scaramucci said. “I don’t think he should go.”
Many Democrats have called for Spicer’s ouster, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.