Donald Trump via Twitter Monday denied that a tweet he posted Saturday that featured Hillary Clinton and a Star of David was anti-Semitic.
Trump blamed the media for depicting his tweet as anti-Semitic and said the the star shape that labeled Clinton “corrupt” in the original tweet was a “plain star” or a “sheriffs star.”
Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff’s Star, or plain star!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2016
The tweet in question featured the star which had a photo of Clinton with the words “most corrupt candidate ever!” in the star. Trump later posted an update version of the tweet with a circle in place of the star, and only after that did he delete the initial tweet. It was reported the meme was previously posted online by white supremacist groups.
Ed Brookover, a senior advisor to Trump’s campaign, expressed a similar defense of the tweet on CNN’s New Day on Monday morning, saying that the tweet was never meant to be anti-Semitic and that people should move on to what he views as more important things.
“There was never any intention of any anti-semitism,” he said, as reported by The Hill. “Mr. Trump has consistently and loudly denounced the white supremacist groups. So this is one of those that’s nothing to see here, let’s move on, and talk about real issues like Hillary Clinton’s three-hour interview with the FBI Saturday.”
