Trump campaign chief: Pence should have called David Duke ‘deplorable’

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Tuesday that Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, should have called David Duke “deplorable” to avoid negative headlines.

{mosads}In an interview with CNN, Conway said that the Republican vice presidential nominee should have called Duke, a former leader in the Ku Klux Klan, “deplorable” during an interview the day before.

“He should, sure,” Conway said. “So that he doesn’t get headlines saying, ‘Mike Pence will not say [David Duke] is deplorable’ and people can get satisfied.”

Conway then pointed out that Pence made clear in an interview that he did not want Duke’s support.

“[The problem] is this certain obsession about constantly raising issues and raising people that are not part of our campaign that we have said and Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has said, that we don’t want his support.”

Pence on Tuesday defended his refusal to call Duke a “deplorable” during a CNN interview Monday night, stating that he doesn’t wish to call people names. 

“Donald Trump and I have denounced David Duke repeatedly. We have said that we do not want his support and we do not want the support of people who think like him,” Pence said during a news conference.

“The simple fact is, I am not in the name-calling business. … I believe that civility is essential in a vibrant democracy.”

–This report was updated at 1:25 p.m.