Rep. Pete King: Sure Trump’s Judge Comments Were ‘Racist,’ But He’s Not!

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 10, 2011. King opened hearings into Islamic radicalization in America, dismissing what he ca... Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 10, 2011. King opened hearings into Islamic radicalization in America, dismissing what he called the "rage and hysteria" surrounding the hearings. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) MORE LESS
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Rep. Pete King (R-NY) pulled off some serious verbal gymnastics on Friday while defending Donald Trump, condemning his “racist” remarks about a federal judge but insisting Trump himself would never discriminate based on race.

“There’s not a hint of racism,” King said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“What he said last week was racist but I make a distinction between a remark that is racist and a person who – he’s almost 70-years-old,” he continued. “He’s been in the public light and the private light all those years and nothing has come up that I’m aware of, of any type of racism at all.”

In interview after interview last week, Trump insisted that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s “Mexican” heritage rendered him unfit to oversee a case involving Trump University. According to Trump, his plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border meant that the Indiana-born Curiel could not be fair to him.

Dozens of prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, rushed to denounce the remarks as racist.

Trump released a statement saying his comments about Curiel’s heritage had been “misconstrued.”

Notable Replies

  1. That’s like saying: Sure, the terrorists King claims to hate so much committed terrorist acts, but they’re not really terrorists.

  2. Hey, you have to understand he’s from a different era; when it wasn’t considered racist to try to bully a federal judge by making reference to his ethnicity!

    Yeah, that should do it, Pete.

  3. So he’s also not sexist, not a liar, not stupid, etc…

  4. Avatar for drf55 drf55 says:

    Where has Peter King been for the entire primary season? Trump has made a number of racist and racially insensitive comments all along the way. You can only judge whether one is a racist by words and actions and on that basis, there’s little doubt that Trump is one.

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