After GOP leaders blast his remarks about a Latino judge, Trump says his words were ‘misconstrued’.

Mogul says attack on federal judge ‘misconstrued’

WASHINGTON — Leading Republicans united Tuesday in an extraordinary denunciation of Donald Trump’s attacks on a federal judge, with House Speaker Paul Ryan calling them the “textbook definition of a racist comment” though he stood by his endorsement of the presumptive presidential nominee.

Trump asserted that his comments were being “misconstrued” but did not back down or apologize for saying repeatedly that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside fairly over a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage.

“I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial,” Trump said in a lengthy statement.

Distracting agenda

Moments before Trump issued his defiant statement, a GOP senator who had previously indicated support for Trump withdrew his backing.

“While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump’s latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party’s nominee for president regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party,” Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who is in a competitive re-election race, said in a statement.

Kirk was the first leading Republican to publicly disavow earlier support for Trump. Most others reaffirmed their plans to support him, but the situation exposed the peril for Republicans with the volatile and unpredictable Trump as their standard-bearer. They are forced to answer for Trump’s latest divisive comment, distracting from their own agendas as well as goals of hanging onto Senate control.

Focus on issues

On Tuesday, Republicans were squirming over what might have been the billionaire’s most incendiary stance to date — the claim that Curiel couldn’t preside fairly over the Trump University case because the U.S.-born judge is of Mexican heritage.

“I regret those comments he made. Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said.

“But do I believe Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not,” Ryan said.

Others avoided the word racist but made their disapproval crystal clear.

“My advice to our nominee would be to start talking about the issues the American people care about and to start doing it now,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“Let’s face it, meet the old Trump, just like the new Trump,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has long opposed the billionaire’s candidacy. “We’ve got what we’ve got. That’s not somebody who can win the White House.”