GOP Rep. Issues Non-Apology for Calling Obama ‘Racist’

The Republican congressman who defended Donald Trump on Tuesday by suggesting President Obama is racist is sorry if people interpreted him as saying President Obama is racist. Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has endorsed Trump, told CNN that the GOP nominee's attacks on a "Mexican" judge from Indiana is not actually racist. "You can easily argue that the president of the United States is a racist with his policies and his rhetoric," he said. "Being a little racist or very racist is not okay, but, quite frankly, the agenda that I see and all the microtargeting to blacks and Hispanics from a policy standpoint, you know, that's more offensive to me." In a statement later Tuesday, Zeldin issued an unapologetic "apology" statement: "I apologize to anyone who interpreted my comments as calling the President a racist."