Trump says not happy with backers’ ‘send her back’ chant

US President Donald Trump says he was unhappy with his supporters chanting “send her back” after he assailed a young Democratic congresswoman who he’s suggested should leave the US.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump claims he tried to stop the chant, which came after he recited a litany of complaints about Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who fled to the US as a child with her family from violence-wracked Somalia.

Video shows the president pausing his remarks, appearing to drink in the uproar and not admonishing his supporters as they chanted.

“I was not happy with it,” Trump says after some prominent Republicans criticized the chant at the president’s reelection event. He says he “would certainly try” to stop the chant should it return at a subsequent rally.

— AP