Hawaii governor says President Trump told him of criticism: ‘Have at it as long as you’re leaving me out of it’

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Gov. Josh Green revealed Tuesday that he spoke with the president on a recent visit to the White House.

“I was at the White House with (my wife) Jaime a week or two ago, and I did have a chance to speak with the president, and I’ll just kind of give you an overview because it’s private what we said,” Green said.

“But I said to the president, you know, I’m not going to criticize him directly provided that we care for people. In fact, I’m not going to criticize him directly much at all. But I am going to speak up for what’s right and wrong, and that’s usually going to be a reflection of what the directors or secretaries do,” he said.

The Hawaii governor has been an outspoken critic of many of the president’s policies and actions, most notably his pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary.

Green went so far as to travel to Washington, D.C., to advocate against the nomination, citing Kennedy’s his lack of health experience, stance on vaccines, and actions during a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019.

Green said of his conversation with Trump, “He said, and it was quite interesting, as long as I’m not being rude to him, I should do whatever I think is best regarding his secretaries. To which I said, well, you know, there are some fundamental differences of opinion that I have on health matters, at least, with the secretary of health, and he laughed and he said, have at it as long as you’re leaving me out of it. I’m basically summarizing.”

Green hasn’t minced words about the president in the past.

“There is absolutely a president who is a dictator,” he previously said. “Even if you are straight up MAGA, if you are not a multi-multimillionaire, you are going to see your relatives and your friends get hurt. You have been tricked.”

Green said Tuesday that the two also spoke at length over various issues.

“There are things we can find common ground on,” Green said, which includes a developing project on clean water and cesspools.

“They appear to like the approach where I can be direct with the president. I’m not going to be petty. I’m not going to dispute who is the president of the United States. But I am going to at least represent our state’s values,” he said.

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