White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley defended President Trump after he drew backlash from both Republicans and Democrats for comparing the House’s impeachment inquiry to a “lynching” in a Tuesday morning tweet.
His defense is sure to raise a few eyebrows, though.
According to a White House pool report Tuesday morning, when pressed about Trump’s “lynching” tweet during a press gaggle, Gidley said: “The President is not comparing what’s happened to him with one of the darkest moments in American history.”
The pool report noted that Gidley also argued that “the word impeachment was used” from the day Trump was elected and before he was sworn into office. Gidley added that Trump “has used many words to describe the way he has been treated” by the media.
When asked by reporters if he could at least admit that lynching is a bad word or if he could condemn lynchings, Gidley insisted that Trump was “clearly articulating the way he feels [the media] has been treating him since day one” and that the President was not getting due process.
Asked again whether he understands that lynching is a bad word, Gidley repeated his argument that Trump has been “relentlessly attacked by the mainstream media since before he took office.”
Watch Gidley’s remarks below:
Hogan Trying to defend the use of the word “lynching” pic.twitter.com/KnYuJLTDca
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) October 22, 2019
