Reporter April Ryan insists, without proof, Trump said ‘white America’ built US

In a series of Twitter messages between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Ryan defended her claim.

“A question: So what does ‘we built this country’ mean in front of a predominantly white crowd?” Ryan said in one tweet.

In another message, she produced a clip from a campaign rally in 2016, in which Trump said, “We cannot let our First Amendment rights be taken away from us, folks.” He added, “We are law-abiding people. We’re people that work very hard, we’re people that built this country and made this country great. And we’re all together.”

Trump also said he and his supporters have to “fight back” against “organized, professionally staged wise guys.”

The rally was hosted in Ohio, one day after a separate rally was canceled in Chicago amid violent protests that many believe was racially charged and critics say was delibrately provoked by Trump.

Ryan, who works for American Urban Radio Networks, noted that the crowd was “predominantly white” as evidence that Trump was specifically referring to white people, even though he never mentioned race.

Ryan declined to comment on the issue when reached by the Washington Examiner.

At the White House press briefing the previous day, Ryan asked Sean Spicer, the administration’s top spokesman, about Trump’s visit to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington.

“Okay, what did the president gain from his tour today?” she said. “You talked about where he visited, the exhibits that he visited. Did he also visit slavery? And the reason why I’m asking is, is because when he was candidate Trump, he said things like ‘we made this country,’ meaning white America, and not necessarily black.”

Spicer asked why Ryan believed Trump had ever said anything like that.

“No, no, no, he said that,” she insisted. “I heard him say that.”

Spicer replied that Trump’s tour was “very eye-opening and powerful.”