TRUMP WON'T CONDEMN SELF-PROCLAIMED WHITE NATIONALIST CHRISTOPHER HASSON BECAUSE "THOSE ARE HIS PEOPLE," EX-RNC CHAIR SAYS

newsweek

The former head of the Republican National Committee blasted President Donald Trump on Friday, speculating in a cable news appearance that Trump may have tempered his remarks about a self-identified white nationalist and domestic terrorist because “those are his people.”

“Why are we acting like this is a space that Donald Trump is going to go in and behave of the American ideal?,” said Michael Steele, who is also a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, in an appearance on MSNBC. “No, he is not. These are his people. And he’s not going to thank law enforcement because he’s probably not happy about what law enforcement did.”

Steele, who served as the chair of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, delivered some of his harshest criticism of the Trump administration to date during the appearance. The remarks came while discussing reports that Trump failed to adequately condemn Christopher Paul Hasson, a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant whom FBI officials accuse of concocting a plot to assassinate Democratic officials and journalists. Hasson, arrested Feb. 15,  allegedly had a cache of weapons in his home and a hit list that investigators say includedprominent politicians, including freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former congressman and MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough.

Trump characterized the Hasson allegations as a “shame” in a meeting with White House reporters, though critics have said he should have gone further to condemn Hasson in light of a flurry of statements Trump has previously made accusing reporters being the “enemy of the people.”

“I think it’s a shame,” Trump said while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. “I think it’s a very sad thing when a thing like that happens. I’ve expressed that.” He rebuffed accusations that his harsh language could have played a part in Hasson’s plot, saying he thinks his “language is very nice.”