Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that the red Star of David that appeared in a meme posted Saturday on his Twitter account was in no way anti-Semitic.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Trump blasted Hillary Clinton for her criticisms, which he said were “ridiculous.” The meme previously appeared on a white supremacist message thread (as Mic originally reported), though Trump maintains that the star is “often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior.”
Despite claiming that there was nothing offensive in the original image, Trump’s campaign removed and replaced it with one superimposing a red circle over the original star.
The Trump statement reads in full:
These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says “Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever” with anti-Semitism is ridiculous. Clinton, through her surrogates, is just trying to divert attention from the dishonest behavior of herself and her husband. The real questions are, why was Bill Clinton meeting secretly with the US Attorney General on her case and where are the 33,000 missing emails and all of the other information missing from her case – Why are there so many lies?
Clinton’s camp had earlier that day released a statement, condemning Trump’s “use of a blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign” and his tack of deflecting blame to the media.
