Pence declines to call David Duke ‘deplorable’

Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence declined to call former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke “deplorable” on Monday. 

{mosads}In a CNN interview, anchor Wolf Blitzer brought up Duke, a vocal supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in the context of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark. 

“Would you call him deplorable?” Blitzer asked of Duke, a former grand wizard for the KKK. 

“No, I’m not in the name-calling business, Wolf. You know me better than that,” Pence said. 

Pence also noted that the Trump campaign has denounced Duke’s support.

“We don’t want the support, and we don’t want the support of people who think like him,” Pence said. 

Trump was criticized earlier this year for not denouncing Duke and other white nationalists quickly enough. 

Duke has called Trump the “white knight” of European Americans.

Pence was asked again about his comments on Duke in a subsequent appearance on Fox News, where he repeated that he and Trump have denounced Duke. 

“Yet the media continues to scamper after this,” he said.

“I get it, they wanted me to start using terms Hillary used,” Pence told host Bret Baier. But he again said he’s not a name-caller before pivoting to attack the Democratic nominee for her “basket full of deplorables” comment. 

It is outrageous that some members of the media are taking quotes out of context! https://t.co/x379lHe86p

— Mike Pence (@mike_pence) September 12, 2016

Clinton is under fire for saying half of Trump’s supporters are racist, sexist or other “deplorables.” Last month, she gave a speech linking the GOP White House nominee’s campaign to the “alt-right” movement, a hardcore sect of conservatism often associated with white nationalism. 

Her campaign responded over Twitter Monday night, posting a link to the video with the commentary, “If you won’t say the KKK is deplorable, you have no business running the country.”

If you won’t say the KKK is deplorable, you have no business running the country. https://t.co/mFut8Qrz9A

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2016

Updated 7:06 p.m.