White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday defended President Trump’s now-deleted retweet of a video showing a supporter in Florida chanting “white power.”
On Sunday morning, the President went on a tweet-storm that included retweeting a video showing his supporters at a retirement community in Florida on golf carts shouting back at anti-Trump critics. A Trump supporter is seen agreeing that he’s a racist and screaming “white power” at the start of the video.
The President deleted the retweet later Sunday morning. White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere issued a cleanup statement shortly thereafter. In a statement shared with TPM, Deere said that Trump is “a big fan of The Villages” and “did not hear the one statement made on the video” but “what he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”
McEnany doubled down on Deere’s explanation during an interview on “Fox and Friends” the next day.
When asked whether the President was aware of the supporter yelling “white power” in the video he retweeted, McEnany insisted that he “did not hear that phrase and that portion of the video.”
McEnany then claimed that the retweet was removed from the President’s Twitter account “when it was signaled to him” that a supporter was shouting “white power.”
“He made very clear to me that he stands with the people of (Florida retirement community) The Villages, our great seniors, men and women in The Villages, who support this President,” McEnany said.
McEnany went on to argue that Trump retweeted the video to show solidarity to his supporters who are “oftentimes demonized.”
“He stands for them and his point in tweeting out that video was to stand with his supporters who are oftentimes demonized,” McEnany said. “So we didn’t hear that portion, he took it down, but he does stand with the men and women of The Villages.”
Watch McEnany’s remarks below:
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Trump's "white power" retweet: "His point in tweeting out that video was to stand with his supporters, who are oftentimes demonized." pic.twitter.com/Y6FRMJ9esD
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) June 29, 2020
