Former President Trump’s campaign issued a clarification after he joked about shooting “through the fake news” at a rally on Sunday.
Speaking in Lititz,Pennsylvania,, less than two days before Election Day, Trump made the remark while speaking about the July 13 assassination attempt against him.
“I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there,” the Republican candidate said to his supporters, gesturing to the bulletproof glass surrounding him.
“And I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news,” Trump added. He appeared to reference the gaggle of journalists in front of him at the time.
“And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind,” he joked, causing the audience to laugh.
On Sunday, the Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung released a statement arguing that the candidate’s remarks “had nothing to do” with journalists being hurt.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” Cheung said. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.”
The spokesperson added that Trump’s remarks were about “threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.”
“In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also,” Cheung said.
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“There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”
In response to the remarks, Harris campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa accused Trump of “violating the Ninth Commandment.”
“Trump is spending the closing days of his campaign angry and unhinged, lying about the election being stolen because he’s worried he will lose,” Moussa said in a statement. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth and will walk into the Oval Office focused on them – that’s Vice President Harris.”
Trump’s remarks came as he and Harris were neck-and-neck in national polls on Sunday. Pennsylvania is a major swing state that is expected to be a deciding factor in which candidate wins the Electoral College.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” and claimed that Harris made a grave mistake by not picking Josh Shapiro, the Keystone State’s governor, as her running mate.
“Shapiro might well have won the state of Pennsylvania for her,” Cruz said to host Maria Bartiromo. “But the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat[ic] Party could not imagine, could not tolerate, such a thing.”
Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
