White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told a reporter she should ask Democrats — rather than President Donald Trump — if they hate people of the Jewish faith during a press briefing Monday.
Sanders’ comments come after being pressured on reports that Trump made such a claim at a weekend fundraiser in Florida.
Sanders repeatedly paired journalists’ questions on whether Trump claimed that Democrats hate Jewish people, saying, “The president has had and laid out clearly his position on this matter. Democrats have had a number of opportunities to condemn specific comments and have refused to do that. That’s a question you should ask Democrats what their position is.”
Trump reportedly told a room full of Republican donors “the Democrats hate Jewish people,” which broadens an attack he made Friday before departing for Florida.
“I thought yesterday’s vote by the house was disgraceful,” Trump said Friday, adding “the Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They have become anti-Jewish and I thought that vote was a disgrace and so does everybody else if you get an honest answer.”
“The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They have become an anti-Jewish party. And that’s too bad,” Trump continued.
Trump’s comments to donors and reporters Friday come after the House voted to pass a Democratic-sponsored resolution, which condemns bigotry. The resolution was originally intended to target Omar’s recent comments saying that members of Congress are pushed to pledge allegiance to Israel, interpreted by many as an anti-semitic trope. (RELATED: Democratic Rebuke Against Anti-Semitism Becomes Resolution Against Everything Else)
The resolution, however, was watered down by Democratic leaders to condemn bigotry in all forms and did not name Omar specifically. Nearly two dozen Republicans voted against the resolution on the grounds that it was watered down from its original intent to condemn Omar’s remarks specifically.