Trump’s Jewish Adviser: He’s Not Responsible For Anti-Semitic Supporters

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump speaks at the Wright Brothers Aero Hangar during a rally, Saturday, March 12, 2016, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
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A longtime adviser to presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday that the billionaire can’t be held responsible for anti-Semitism among his supporters.

Asked on JM in the AM about the “backlash” over Trump supporters with “questionable backgrounds,” Jason Greenblatt, an executive vice president for the Trump Organization, said, “I do not think Mr. Trump can be responsible for people who are anti-Semitic who support him.”

“He has come out clearly against anti-Semitism,” continued Greenblatt, who practices Orthodox Judaism and advises Trump on Israel.

He went on to say Trump has already denounced anti-Semitism “countless times,” most recently in an interview with the New York Times when the presumptive GOP nominee said anti-Semitism “has no place in our society.”

“[It] really bothers me that people think that he constantly has to repeat statements he has said before,” Greenblatt said.

Greenblatt also addressed widespread anti-Semitic hate and abuse online that’s been linked to the 2016 election, saying he’s also been targeted with “anti-Semitic stances and statements.”

“Social media is such that people can simply say whatever they want constantly,” he said. “ I just think that they have to understand that he has a campaign to run, he has an election to win, and he can’t keep going around saying ‘I denounce anti-Semitism.’ He said it clearly and emphatically on multiple times.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, announced Wednesday that it recruited top journalists, academics and others for a task force on the widespread anti-Semitic and bigoted attacks targeting journalists covering the 2016 campaign.

Listen to the full interview over at Nachum Segal Network.

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