It is "predictable and outrageous" people would try to connect President Donald Trump with the person who murdered Muslim worshippers in New Zealand, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said Monday.
"This president condemns hate and evil and bigotry," Conway told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "We will continue to do so. People should feel safe, but especially feel safe in their places of worship. We've seen far too often where this is not the case."
The shooting suspect's manifesto mentioned Trump "as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." Conway said Monday he compared his motivations to those of the shooter in the 2011 terror attacks.
Instead, people should focus on what authorities are saying, Conway said.
"Tech companies are struggling not to be a platform for hate and evil in the first place," Conway said. "Murder was live-streamed. This guy wanted attention, [being a] rotten, evil, hateful person who wanted to kill people and live-streamed it."
The White House stands with "our Muslim brothers and sisters," Conway said.
She also defended Chelsea Clinton, after the former president's daughter was blamed for the deaths over the weekend because she had denounced anti-Semitism.
"She should not have been yelled at by those people and blamed for the massacre any more than any other people should be exempt for the evil, pathetic, horrible, hateful man who did this," Conway said.
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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