Politics

President Donald Trump holds a media availability and takes questions from the press at an Oval Office event with members of Team USA for the 2019 Special Olympics. Trump said he was “not happy” with his supporters chanting “send her back” when he spoke about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at a campaign rally Wednesday night. Trump said he “would certainly try” to stop any similar chant at a future rally.

“I was not happy with it. I disagree with it. But again, I didn’t say that. They did. But I disagree with it,” Trump said of the ‘send her back’ chant.

“But it was quite a chant and I felt a little bit badly about it,” Trump said.

“What I would suggest I was not happy with it,” Trump later said. “But what I would suggest you go there and go to North Carolina and you ask the people why did they say that. But that’s what they said.”

QUESTION: Mr. President, if I may–when your supporters last week were changing send her back why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you ask them to stop saying that?

TRUMP: Well, number one, I think I did. I started speaking very quickly. It–it really was a loud–I disagree with them by the way. But it was quite a chant and I felt a little bit badly about it but I will say this–I did and I started speaking very quickly. But it started up rather–rather fast as you probably noticed.

QUESTION: So you’ll tell your supporters never to say that again?

TRUMP: I would say that. I was not happy with it. I disagree with it. But again, I didn’t say–I didn’t say that. They did. But I disagree with them.

QUESTION: But they were echoing what you said in your first tweet–they should go back.

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QUESTION: Mr. President, are you concerned with your supporters changing send her back (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Well, I have tremendous support and I wasn’t happy with that message that they gave last night. But that was a packed arena. We could have sold an arena–we could have sold 10 of those arenas last night. There were tremendous numbers of people that couldn’t get in. We had outside thousands and thousands of people. We had thousands and thousands of people that wanted to come and we said, please don’t come. It held 10,000 people it was packed. We could have sold that arena 10 times. There is tremendous support for the republican party. There is tremendous support for this team, for the President, for the Vice President. We have tremendous support.

Maybe like nobody has seen in a long time–there’s great energy. I say there’s far more energy on the right than there is on the left. I mean, I hear about the left all I see in the left is fighting all over the place. I think we have far more support than they do. And I think we have far more energy than they do. And we are going to have a very interesting election.

But I was not happy when I heard that chant. Thank you everyone. Thank you very much.

You have to ask him. You would have to ask them (INAUDIBLE). What I would suggest I was not happy with it. But what I would suggest you go there and go to North Carolina and you ask the people why did they say that. But that’s what they said.

QUESTION: You will stop them if they try to do it again?

TRUMP: Well, I didn’t like that they did it. And I started speaking very quickly. I could have–I could have stood back.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Excuse me. Really? If you would have heard–there was a tremendous amount of noise and action and everything else. I started very quickly and I think you know that.

A man was shot and killed by police after throwing incendiary devices at an immigrant detention center in Washington state.

Tacoma police officers went around 4 a.m. Saturday to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, which holds migrants awaiting deportation proceedings, according to The Associated Press. 

The man’s actions resulted in a vehicle catching fire and the man tried to ignite a propane tank and set buildings ablaze, police told the AP. He was reportedly armed with a rifle and had flares. 

Police spokeswoman Loretta Cool told the wire service that four officers fired their weapons but that she did not know whether the man fired at officers.

Officers later found the man and determined he had been shot and killed, according to the AP. 

No law enforcement officers were injured and the four officers who fired their weapons were placed on paid leave, according to the wire service. 

Cool told the AP that the shooting came hours after a peace rally in front of the facility, which is owned by Geo Group. 

A Geo Group spokesperson told The Hill in a statement Saturday that no one at the facility was injured in the incident. 

“The outrageous and baseless accusations that have been leveled against our facilities have led to misplaced aggression and a dangerous environment for our employees, whose safety is our top priority,” the spokesperson added.

“Violence of any kind against our employees and property will not be tolerated,” the statement continued. “We are thankful for the quick and brave action by the Tacoma Police Department, which prevented innocent lives from being endangered.”

The Hill has reached out to the Tacoma Police Department for comment.