Trump campaign official blames Clinton for encouraging Dallas shooting
Donald Trump's Virginia state campaign chairman said in a Facebook post that Hillary Clinton is to blame for "essentially encouraging the murders" of Dallas police officers Thursday.
Corey Stewart said, "Liberal politicians who label police as racists -- specifically Hillary Clinton and Virginia Lt. Governor Ralph Northam -- are to blame for essentially encouraging the murder of these police officers tonight."
Stewart then shared a second comment on Facebook that was still critical of Clinton.
Reacting to Stewart's initial post, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Times that the campaign condemns what he said.
"Corey does not speak for the campaign and this is not something we agree with," Hicks said of Stewart, who also reportedly plans to run for Virginia governor next year.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Illinois, sent a threatening tweet as the Dallas shooting was unfolding that said, "3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded. This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you." Though Walsh deleted the tweet, an MSNBC producer got a screenshot of it first.
Joe Walsh deleted his tweet. Here's the screenshot: pic.twitter.com/t5ke5YWxbu
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 8, 2016
Walsh sent a storm of tweets throughout the night, and he later denied calling for violence against the president, though he still squarely placed the blame for the deaths of the Dallas police on Mr. Obama.
I wasn't calling for violence, against Obama or anyone. Obama's words & BLM's deeds have gotten cops killed. Time for us to defend our cops.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 8, 2016
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the original post had been deleted.