Trump Fails To Condemn KKK On Television
After former head of the KKK David Duke had detailed his support for Trump in a Facebook post, Trump was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether he would disavow Duke and other white supremacist groups that are supporting his campaign.
Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK?
Trump was pressed three times on whether he’d distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan — but never mentioned the group in his answers.
I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” he said. “So I don’t know. I don’t know — did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.
Trump eventually did disavow David Duke and clarified his comments on NBC’s Today show later in the day blaming a bad earpiece:
I was sitting in a house in Florida, with a bad earpiece. I could hardly hear what he’s saying. I hear various groups. I don’t mind disavowing anyone. I disavowed Duke the day before at a major conference.
Reality
Isn’t it funny that Trump “could hardly hear what [Tapper] was saying” but in the interview with Tapper heard that Duke endorsed him and enough to claim he knew nothing about David Duke and white supremacists?
Also despite what he said, Trump apparently did know Duke in 2000 — citing him, as well as Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani — in a statement that year explaining why he had decided to end his brief flirtation with a Reform Party presidential campaign.
“The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep,” Trump said in a statement reported then by The New York Times.
Liar, liar pants on fire.
Links
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/28/politics/donald-trump-white-supremacists/