Donald Trump's comments on the judge presiding over a lawsuit against his namesake university were "racist and no doubt about it," but that doesn't mean that the GOP presumptive nominee is a racist himself, Rep. Pete King said Thursday.
"I make the distinction of what I know, he's not racist, but he's careless and reckless of what he says, the New York Republican told
MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" program, and he plans to continue backing Trump's White House bid.
"To me, it is a choice between Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton," King said. "I have serious issues with Syria and Iran and foreign policy in general. At this moment, I have to tip the ballot in Donald Trump's favor. The fact is he's a nominee. I am going to stay with the Republican nominee."
There are some Republican lawmakers who are pulling back their support of Trump, and King admitted the Trump campaign is in "tough shape right now."
"Last week should have been a big week for Donald Trump," King said, noting that Trump could have used the slow jobs report coming out of the Obama administration as a strong political play, not the lawsuit against Trump University "which he should have ignored altogether" and his resulting criticism of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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