Donald Trump Jr. said Friday that his recent offhand remark about gas chambers was a “poor choice of words,” but insisted it had nothing to do with the Holocaust.
“I didn’t say anything about the Holocaust. I was talking about media bias. I was talking about if you’re a conservative, it’s essentially capital punishment,” Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee’s eldest son, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“I said the same thing two weeks ago, and used the term electric chair,” he added.
Mr. Trump made headlines this week after he told a Philadelphia radio station that the media has let Hillary Clinton get away with “every indiscrepancy [sic], on every lie, on every DNC game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of this thing. If Republicans were doing that, they’d be warming up the gas chamber right now.”
The Anti-Defamation League accused Mr. Trump of joking about the Holocaust.
“Trivialization of the Holocaust and gas chambers is NEVER okay,” the league wrote on Twitter. “We hope you understand the sensitivity and hurt of making Holocaust jokes. We hope you retract.”
Mr. Trump said Friday that the remark “was poor choice of words, perhaps, but in no way, shape or form was I ever even remotely talking about the Holocaust.”
“I wouldn’t do it. I think that’s disgusting. It’s not my style,” he said. “But what it shows, unfortunately, it almost proves the point. I say something, rather than the media asking me about it, rather than saying, ’Hey Don, were you talking about the Holocaust?’ — they jump to, ’oh my God!” you were talking about the Holocaust.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.