Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday it was "terrible" if GOP presidential front-runner
Donald Trump mocked a disabled reporter, but added she doesn't have enough evidence to know for certain if he did.
Appearing on Sirius XM radio's
"Michael Smerconish Show," John McCain's 2008 running mate said, "I don’t know entirely the context. I mean, if for sure there was mocking of one individual … who has a special need, that’s bad, obviously."
Palin's son, Trig, was has Down Syndrome.
"I’ve seen others do that," she said. "You know we saw the president [Barack Obama] mocking — while he was sitting as president — mocking those who participate in the Special Olympics."
Trump has been accused of mocking the physical appearance of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a condition that limits his arm movements.
Trump quoted Kovaleski saying he no longer remembers all the details of a story he wrote for The Washington Post after the 9/11 attacks in which Muslims in New Jersey were investigated for celebrating the World Trade Center attacks.
Trump moved his arms and held his hand in a similar angle to Kovaleski's while imitating his words.
Trump says he does not know the reporter and was not intending to mock his disability, but Kovaleski says they do know each other and have been on a first-name basis in the past.
Palin told Smerconish she has seen the video, adding, "if that was mocking an individual, if that’s accurate, then, no, you don’t — I — it’s terrible, its terrible."
She said, however, "I'm not gonna buy into the narrative without knowing all the facts that he purposefully was talking about a New York Times reporter or editor who had the special needs. … I’m not gonna just buy into what I’m seeing on TV because I don’t trust everything that I see on TV and hear on the news."
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