Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that President Trump should not be blamed for the deadly shootings in New Zealand targeting Muslims.
Although the suspected shooter has voiced support for Trump, Mulvaney also said it is not fair describe him as a Trump supporter and argued the president is sufficiently combating the threat of white supremacy and Islamophobia.
“The president is not a white supremacist,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m not sure how many times we have to say that. And to simply ask the question every time something like this happens overseas or even domestically to say, ‘Oh my goodness, it must somehow be the president’s fault’ speaks to a politicization of everything that is undermining the institutions that we have in the country today.”
Host Chris Wallace pressed Mulvaney on whether Trump would give a national speech “condemning anti-Muslim white supremacist bigotry.”
Mulvaney would not commit to the idea, instead saying Trump has been a defender of “religious liberties.” He also said there’s “no indication” the New Zealand shootings are part of a larger plot.
“I’m not sure what more you want the president to do,” Mulvaney said. “You may say you want a national speech, that’s fine. Maybe we do that, maybe we don’t. The president is doing everything we can to prevent this type of thing from happening here. The president is doing everything that we can to make it clear, look, this has to stop.”
Mulvaney said it’s not accurate to call the suspect in the New Zealand shootings a Trump supporter. In a manifesto online, the suspected shooter said he supports Trump as “as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” But he also said he opposes Trump’s policies and leadership.
“I don’t think it’s fair to cast this person as a supporter of Donald Trump any more than it is to look at his echo terrorist passages and align him with Nancy Pelosi or Ms. [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez,” Mulvaney said.
As Mulvaney was defending Trump, the president took to Twitter to support Jeanine Pirro of Fox News, whose show did not air Saturday evening after she was accused of anti-Muslim rhetoric during her opening monologue the week before. Trump also suggested Fox was being “politically correct” to punish Pirro for her remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a Muslim who wears a hijab.
“Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro,” Trump said in a series of tweets. “The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well. Fox must stay strong and fight back with vigor. Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down, and continue to fight for our Country.”
Pirro, a fervent Trump supporter, last weekend drew controversy for comments about Omar, questioning whether the freshman congresswoman’s faith got in the way of her loyalty to the U.S. “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Shariah law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Pirro asked.
The monologue prompted swift condemnation from Fox News, which said Pirro’s comments “do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”
Trump has his own history of comments and actions that critics considered to be anti-Muslim. For instance, during the 2016 presidential campaign he said “Islam hates us” and proposed banning Muslims from entering the U.S.
