Amid ‘Stargate,’ GOP’s Ryan says no place for anti-Semitism in campaign
House Speaker condemns image tweeted by Trump camp from neo-Nazi site; NY Observer writer calls out Jared Kushner for allowing father-in-law to foster anti-Semitism
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday offered a tepid condemnation of Donald Trump’s use of a Star of David in a tweet claiming corruption by his rival Hillary Clinton, saying that such images do not belong in the race for the White House.
“Anti-Semitic images have no place in the presidential campaign, candidates should know that,” Ryan told “Midday with Charlie Sykes” show on Milwaukee’s WTMJ radio.
“One of the few times I spoke out against him … was when he failed to disavow white supremacists,” Ryan pointed out, before adding “I think he’s got to clean this thing up.”
The speaker said, however, that he understands the post was tweeted by a member of Trump’s staff and not by the candidate himself.
“I don’t know what flunky put this up there,” he said.
The image, tweeted by Trump on Saturday, featured the presumptive Democratic nominee’s picture on a background of $100 bills with a six-pointed star reading “most corrupt candidate ever.”
Trump’s campaign did not disavow the image, which continued to dominate headlines even as Trump met with prospective vice presidential candidates. Rather, his aides said it was intended to represent a sheriff’s star.
But the Mic website first reported Sunday that the image had initially appeared on what it described as “an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists,” several days before Trump tweeted the image from his official account.
An entertainment writer at the New York Observer, which is owned by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, penned an open letter to him Tuesday accusing him of pandering to white supremacists and highlighting the anti-Semitic vitriol she received online when she called the image out.
Kushner, who is Jewish, is heavily involved in the presidential campaign.
“You went to Harvard, and hold two graduate degrees. Please do not condescend to me and pretend you don’t understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty. I’m asking you, not as a ‘gotcha’ journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: how do you allow this? Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this,” wrote Dana Schwartz.
“And now, Mr. Kushner, I ask you: What are you going to do about this? Look at those tweets I got again, the ones calling me out for my Jewish last name, insulting my nose, evoking the holocaust, and tell me I’m being too sensitive. Read about the origins of that image and see the type of people it attracted like a flies to human waste and tell me this whole story is just the work of the “dishonest media.” Look at that image and tell me, honestly, that you just saw a “Sheriff’s Star.” I didn’t see a sheriff star, Mr. Kushner, and I’m a smart person. After all, I work for your paper.”
Trump’s camp issued a statement Monday doubling down on its message.
“These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says ‘Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever’ with anti-Semitism is ridiculous,” Trump’s representatives responded in a statement.
“I’m not sure who tweeted this out,” Trump aide Ed Brookover said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”
“We corrected it. There was never any intention of anti-Semitism. There’s no anti-Semitism in Mr. Trump’s body, not one ounce, not one cell,” he said.
