Trump: Campaign Should Have Left Controversial Star Tweet Up
CINCINNATI, Ohio (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Donald Trump is continuing to defend the controversial star tweet his campaign took down from his Twitter account.
During a campaign rally in Cincinnati, Trump told supporters he wished his campaign didn't delete the tweet.
"They took the star down. I said, 'Too bad, you should have left it up,'" the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said. "I would have rather defended it. Just leave it up and say, 'No, that's not a Star of David, it's just a star.'"
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Trump said that it was just "a regular star or maybe a sheriff's star."
Trump received criticism for the image of the star, which some had deemed anti-Semitic.
He insisted that the media "was racist" for assuming that the image had Jewish connotations.
"These people are sick, they're sick," Trump said about the media, while pointing the finger at CNN.
He said that he is not anti-Semitic, noting that his daughter Ivanka had converted to Judaism for marriage and is raising her children Jewish.
Trump also blamed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for the controversy surrounding the tweet.
"She's the one who started the dialogue. You know why? Because she wanted to get off the FBI," Trump told supporters, referencing the FBI not recommending criminal charges against Clinton for using a private email server while secretary of state.
Mic.com reported the meme first appeared on an Internet message board used by neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski called the controversy "political correctness run amok."
"A tweet is a simple tweet, and the bottom line is you can read into things that are not there. You know, this is a simple star," Lewandowski told CNN.
He added that it is "the same star that sheriffs' departments all over the place" use.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
