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.
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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.”
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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