Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday that she doesn’t think Trump lied when he called debate moderator Lester Holt a Democrat.
Trump recently said that Holt was a Democrat when discussing media bias, but it was then revealed that the “NBC Nightly News” anchor is actually a registered Republican.
“A lie would mean he knew the man’s party registration,” Conway said.
Bloomberg Politics host Mark Halperin, who was also on the morning show, brought up the conversation, asking, “How could he say such a thing that just black-and white factually incorrect?”
Conway pivoted by saying the media is filled with Democrats.
“I’m asking about a very specific thing,” Halperin said. “He made a factual claim about the moderator who deserves the right to be treated fairly and it was just wrong. And it’s a metaphor for his frequently in public stating things with no basis, that are wrong.”
Conway responded by calling it a “terrible and irrelevant example” because she was “appalled” by the treatment Matt Lauer received when he moderated a recent NBC town hall event.
Halperin pressed for Conway to explain why Trump called Holt a Democrat when he didn’t actually know, but the two never came to an agreement before the show went to a commercial break.
“He didn’t lie,” Conway said. “A lie would mean he knew the man’s party registration.”
.@KellyannePolls: Trump 'didn't lie' about Lester Holt, 'a lie would mean that he knew the man's party registration' https://t.co/dZWTCwpoim
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) September 26, 2016