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Donald Trump blames supporters for 'send her back' taunts against black lawmaker

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump blamed his supporters Thursday for a chant of "send her back" that erupted at his North Carolina rally, even though he did nothing to stop the taunts against a black lawmaker that echoed his own attacks.  

"I disagree with it,” the president told reporters a day later in the Oval Office. "I wasn't happy with that message." 

Trump did nothing to stop his supporters at the North Carolina rally on Wednesday when they erupted into calls of "send her back" in response to the president's lengthy criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.  

The chant echoed a series of tweets Trump posted on Sunday in which he said Omar and three other congresswomen of color should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

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Omar, who was born in Somalia, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who arrived in the country as a refugee at age 12.

The three other women Trump attacked – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York., Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – are all U.S. citizens. All three were born in the United States. 

Pressed further on the crowd's chant at the rally, Trump suggested reporters return to North Carolina to ask why supporters began the chant during Wednesday's rally.

"I didn't say that," Trump said, referring to the chant. "They did."

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media prior to departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, July 5, 2019.

Asked why he did not stop the chant, Trump said: “I think I did – I started speaking very quickly." The first time the chant broke out during the North Carolina rally, Trump continued his speech and did not tell the audience to stop. 

The second time supporters began chanting, Trump stood back from the lectern, paused in his remarks and listened as the crowd repeated the words nearly a dozen times. 

Trump's remarks came after several Republican lawmakers distanced themselves Thursday from chants even as many defended Trump himself from charges of racism. 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., posted on Twitter that he woke up "disgusted" by the chant, which he described as “ugly.”

President Donald Trump gestures while speaking at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., on July 17, 2019.

The raucous scene that played out on stage hearkened to Trump's 2016 rallies, when supporters would often taunt Democrat Hillary Clinton with chants of "lock her up." Then, Trump basked in the chant and occasionally clapped along. 

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Other politicians have confronted audience members to avoid the blowback from their controversial statements. The most notable example came in 2008, when then Republican presidential nominee John McCain corrected a woman during a Minnesota town hall meeting who claimed that Barack Obama was "an Arab."

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