Trump defends birther exchange: ‘I didn’t say anything’

Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump defended himself Saturday for failing to correct a supporter who called President Obama a Muslim and a foreigner at a town hall meeting earlier in the week.

“I did a very innocent town hall with about 3,000 people at least, and the first question I said, ‘this can only happen to me,’” Trump said in a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa.

{mosads}“For the first time in my life, I got in trouble by not saying anything — I didn’t say anything,” he continued. “And I was in trouble all over the place — CNN, Fox, CBS, every newscast it was the biggest story. And I even beat out the pope on every single — can you believe it? The only time I’ll ever beat out the pope.”

Trump bashed the media for their coverage of the incident.

“If I would have challenged the media, who by the way in some cases are really good, really professionals, and in some cases they are really the worst,” he said. “This Politico media – they are the worst, they are very dishonest, many of them, many of them.”

The GOP presidential hopeful also read the tweets that he sent out earlier today defending himself.

The Trump supporter made the comments during a Q&A session at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on Thursday. Trump did not directly address the remarks.

Politicians on both the left and right jumped into the fray to bash Trump for his passivity.

Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for Trump to denounce the comments, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Trump had an “obligation” as a leader to set the record straight.

The businessman responded that it’s not his job to defend the president from attacks.

“Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him?” Trump tweeted on Saturday. “I don’t think so!”