The Trump campaign has disavowed comments made by his Virginia campaign chairman, Corey Stewart. Stewart is Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Prince William county. On Facebook Stewart blamed Democrats for the killing of 5 police officers in Dallas on Thursday,
“Liberal politicians who label police as racists – specifically Hillary Clinton and Virginia Lt. Governor Ralph Northam – are to blame for essentially encouraging the murder of these police officers tonight.”
Stewart is running for Governor next year against Democrat Lt. Governor Ralph Northam.
In another post on Facebook post Stewart said,
“Va. Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and Hillary Clinton are pitting minorities against the police. Whenever there is a police shooting involving a minority, their knee jerk reaction is to allege racism. That is insulting to the men and women in blue who risk their lives to protect ours. But worse, these allegations result in the murder of our police.”
On Friday afternoon in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch Stewart made it clear that he would not retract his comments,
“Absolutely I’m standing by it,” he said. I’m not backing down at all.”
Trump’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks responded to Stewart’s remarks,
“He does not speak for the campaign and we do not agree.
The Vice Chairman of Trump’s Virginia campaign, radio talk show host and delegate to the national convention in Cleveland, John Fredericks, responded on behalf of the Trump campaign,
“His (Stewart’s) comments are not reflective of Mr. Trump’s position on the Dallas tragedy nor is it indicative of (Trump’s) value system as it relates to this horrific event,”
More on the story here and here.
