Trump team on defensive after Wade tweet

Hours later, nominee tweets condolences

Donald Trump’s campaign manager defended the Republican presidential candidate following his exclamatory tweet about the murder of Dwyane Wade’s cousin, saying it was a sign that Trump will be “taking his message to communities of color” in the coming weeks.

Trump suggested Saturday that the shooting of Nykea Al- dridge, the cousin of the Chicago Bulls star, while pushing a baby stroller validates his claims about urban crime. “Just what I have been saying. African- Americans will VOTE TRUMP!” he said.

Trump’s critics accused him of politicizing the tragedy. And on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway deflected questions about the meaning of that tweet.

“He tweeted his condolences to the family right after that, and I’d like everyone to know about both tweets,” she said.

The next tweet, which came hours later, read: “My condolences to Dwyane Wade and his family, on the loss of Nykea Al- dridge. They are in my thoughts and prayers.”

“I think you have to look at both tweets where he expresses his condolences,” Conway said. “He reminds everybody he’s been trying to make the case that the increase in random crime and senseless murders, the poverty, the joblessness, the homelessness in some of our major cities is unacceptable to all of us.”

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also defended the GOP presidential nominee’s response to the Chicago killing, pointing to Trump’s follow- up tweet and blaming the media for not “focusing on what the Clintons have been up to for the last 30 years.”

Pence said Trump “has a plainspoken way about him. And the tragedy of a mother pushing her child on the streets of Chicago being shot and killed, as Nykea Aldridge was, just breaks my heart.”