One of those remembering the late Senator Dianne Feinstein is retired KNX News anchor Dick Helton.
Helton, who interviewed Feinstein plenty of times while she was in the Senate, said when it came to interviewing her, you had to know what you were talking about or she would “run all over you.”
“You had to be at the top of your game if you're going to talk to Senator Feinstein,” he said. “She enjoyed the fact that I would ask the tough questions, but I said in my tweet this morning...I guess at this point, she appreciated the tough questions until I asked Hillary that tough question that morning.”
The question, Helton said, happened during a conference call in 2008 with then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Helton said he asked her about the marital affair of then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also served on a chair of Clinton’s national campaign.
Before Clinton could answer, Feinstein fired back at him, “Dick Helton, I’m surprised at you for that question. My goodness!”
“[Feinstein] was having none of it,” he said
Helton called Feinstein’s death a sad moment in California and national politics.
“She did a lot for California and for that matter…the United States,” he said. “ You have heard a lot of, good words about her this morning. ‘Trailblazer,’ I think was one of them and certainly, her legacy will live long beyond this morning. She was quite a woman and I certainly enjoyed all the times I had to interact with her and ask her the tough questions you might say.”
As for who Governor Gavin Newsom will choose to fill Feinstein’s seat, Helton said he believes the governor has a shortlist of potential candidates.
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