Donald Trump’ s running mate Mike Pence said Tuesday that Hillary Clinton’s attempts to tie the GOP ticket to former KKK leader David Duke and “people of ill motives” is a desperate move aimed at distracting voters from her slandering of their supporters as “deplorables.”
Mr. Pence is making the rounds on Capitol Hill in an attempt to allay lingering concerns that some GOP lawmakers have about Mr. Trump. The visit came a day after the Indiana governor made headlines for refusing, in response to a question, to call Mr. Duke “deplorable.”
In a press briefing with House Republican leaders, Mr. Pence made it clear that “Donald Trump and I have denounced David Duke repeatedly” and reiterated that their campaign does not want his support or the support of people who think like him.
“I would draw no more conclusion of that man’s expressions of support than I would the fact that the father of a terrorist who killed 49 Americans was seen at a Hillary Clinton rally cheering her on, and said he was there because she was good on national security,” Mr. Pence told reporters, alluding to Seddique Matenn, the father of Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub shooter.
“I would submit to you this is all a distraction. I get it. I understand why Hillary Clinton and her campaign want to change the subject after that speech on Friday night,” he said.
Asked about Mr. Trump’s support at a fundraiser in New York City, Mrs. Clinton said “to be grossly generalist, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”
Since then, she has walked back her remarks, saying that she was to cast “half” of Mr. Trump’s supporters that way, while maintaining that Mr. Trump has provided a platform for “hateful views.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Pence repeated the campaign’s call for Mrs. Clinton to retract her entire statement.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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