Former President Donald Trump’s campaign blasted a report that he referred to Milwaukee, where Republicans will have their convention next month, as a “horrible city.”
Trump reportedly bashed the Democrat-run city during a closed-door meeting with Republicans in Washington, D.C., when he returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. During the meeting, the former president was asked about the city in an important swing state he will need to win as he attempts to return to the White House.
“In a desperate attempt to get likes, Fake News Jake Sherman, who wasn’t even in the room, falsely claimed that President Trump called Milwaukee a ‘horrible city.’ It’s a total lie,” a campaign press release said. “President Trump was explicitly referring to the problems in Milwaukee, specifically violent crime and voter fraud.”
The Associated Press reported that the word “horrible” was used by Trump to talk about Milwaukee. Republicans who were a part of the meeting didn’t give a consensus response to whether he did or didn’t call Milwaukee “a horrible city.” Some suggested it was taken out of context, while others denied the report entirely.
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) told WISN-TV in Milwaukee that Trump was referring to election integrity.
“That’s where the comment came from, that Milwaukee’s just terrible,” Fitzgerald said. “What he was talking about was the elections in Milwaukee, his concerns about them.”
Another House Republican, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), denied it outright.
“I was in the room,” Steil posted on X. “President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told the Washington Examiner that Jake Sherman, who reported the information, wasn’t in the room and that his claim was wrong. The campaign says the framing of Trump’s remarks, that he said, “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city,” were “completely false.”
The campaign pointed to a question Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) posed about crime and election fraud in Milwaukee and her remark “he said that those things are horrible. What’s happening in that city is horrible.”
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“He didn’t just randomly say, ‘It’s a horrible city.’ He was answering a question about the problems that are plaguing the city and described them as horrible.”
Democrats used the report to tear into Trump. President Joe Biden’s campaign quickly seized the moment by emphasizing they “think Milwaukee is lovely” and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson responded to the initial report by saying, “All of us lived through his presidency, so right back at you, buddy.”
