Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Donald Trump “crossed the line” during his speech at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner on Thursday evening, according to the great-great-grandson of the Catholic charity event’s namesake. Appearing Friday morning on CNN’s New Day, Al Smith V told host John Berman that after Trump said during his speech that Hillary Clinton “is tonight in public pretending not to hate Catholics,” the room became palpably “uncomfortable,” because the joke “didn’t go over very well.” The Smith descendant added that the barb’s poor attempt to capitalize on WikiLeaks emails showing Clinton staffers bashing Catholic conservatives came off more as a replay of Trump’s debate antics. “I think what we saw in the last debate a couple nights ago, we saw last night,” Smith said. “You know, Donald had some very solid minutes early on and eventually he crossed the line and took it a little too far. Hillary, you know, on the other hand, was able to laugh at herself and at the same time not underplay any of the serious things that Donald Trump has said or done.”