Newt Gingrich made a curious claim on radio host Mike Gallagher’s Thursday program. The former House speaker reiterated his contention that Donald Trump’s recent comments about federal judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage were “totally, utterly unacceptable.” Then Gingrich added, “I am glad Trump has disowned it. I am glad he’s moved on. I’m certainly moving on, and I’m totally for Trump as compared to Hillary Clinton.” Listen to the audio, captured by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski.
The problem with this is Trump hasn’t “disowned” his comments at all. Gingrich is presumably referring to Trump’s prepared statement, released Tuesday, that claimed his comments about Curiel, who is presiding over the Trump University fraud case, were “misconstrued.”
But were Trump’s comments really “misconstrued”? In a tough exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper late last week, Trump stated pretty clearly that he was, in fact, calling into question Curiel’s impartiality because of his Mexican heritage. “If you invoke his race as a reason why he can’t do his job,” Tapper said, before Trump interrupted. “I think that’s why he’s doing it,” Trump said. In comments before and since that interview, Trump had made a point of noting Curiel’s Mexican heritage (frequently referring to him as a “Mexican,” though he’s not a Mexican national and was born in the United States) and said the judge has an “inherent conflict of interest” because of Trump’s position as a leading presidential candidate campaigning on stopping illegal immigration across the Mexican border. Trump’s Tuesday statement simply repackages this argument without substantively changing it. “Normally, legal issues in a civil case would be heard in a neutral environment,” he writes. “However, given my unique circumstances as nominee of the Republican Party and the core issues of my campaign that focus on illegal immigration, jobs and unfair trade, I have concerns as to my ability to receive a fair trial.”
Read the entire Trump statement. The Republican candidate does not once say anything that could be interpreted as “disowning” his stated belief that Curiel cannot be impartial in his case because of his Mexican-born parents.
