Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp denounced presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s declaration that half of Donald Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables, calling it “wrong” and “ill-advised.”
Heitkamp, who supports Clinton for president, told a Fargo-based radio station that she did not agree with Clinton’s comment, which she made to donors last Friday before backtracking the next day.
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“Yes I do,” Heitkamp told WZFG AM 1100 when asked if she denounces the comment. “I think it was a wrong thing to say. I think that it ignores the very true concerns that we have about needing change in this country.
“I think it was ill-advised. I think the secretary said it was ill-advised. I think she walked it back, and it was unfortunate that she said it,” Heitkamp said. “I’m glad that she’s denounced that statement and I do not agree with her.”
Clinton’s comment was part of a week of sinking poll numbers and problems for her campaign, which culminated with a medical episode while attending a memorial in honor of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Sunday.
She ultimately returned to the campaign trail on Thursday in North Carolina.
Trump made the comment the centerpiece of the past week for him on the campaign trail, arguing that it was worse than Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” from the 2012 cycle while repeating his disbelief that she even made the remark.
