Paul Manafort, an advisor to presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, clarified on Sunday a comment he made about the real estate mogul selecting a woman or minority to serve as his running mate.
“In fact, that would be viewed as pandering, I think,” Manafort told the Huffington Post. Trump later said that Manafort had been misquoted.
Manafort himself didn’t explicitly say whether he was misquoted during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” but did expand on his comment, saying there was “more to it.”
“I said he was — Trump was looking at the qualifications of all the candidates and that he wouldn’t select someone only on the basis of gender or ethnicity. That’s not to say that — because that would be pandering,” Manafort said.
“But the qualifications, if a female is qualified, that’s totally different story. And there are many Republican women who are qualified, and several who might be on the list,” Manafort continued.