After Donald Trump Jr. posted an image on Instagram Sunday mocking Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a senior official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development offered her approval in a couple of emojis.
I didn’t think this was real. The president’s son posted this on Instagram yesterday. The “??” comment at the bottom is from senior HUD official @LynnePattonHUD. pic.twitter.com/nzRqMN0sIG
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) September 17, 2018
The official, Lynne Patton, joined several Trump administration allies who “liked” the post, including Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson and the pro-Trump commentators Diamond and Silk.
Patton is a former Trump family event planner who was appointed last year to oversee HUD’s federal housing programs in New York and New Jersey as a regional administrator. She once referred to reporter April Ryan as “Miss Piggy.” Patton later apologized.
Patton responded to CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski early Monday morning, arguing that her comment “was not an attempt to diminish sexual assault.”
This was not an attempt to diminish sexual assault. To the contrary, my post was in response to the hypocrisy highlighted by @DonaldJTrumpJr inasmuch that @SenFeinstein concealed Ms. Ford’s letter for 2 mos, releasing it only when the timing best suited her own. True exploitation pic.twitter.com/8Wv93MFJ96
— ?? Lynne Patton (@LynnePatton) September 17, 2018
Donald Trump Jr. hasn’t responded to the criticism of his Instagram post.
