In an interview Sunday on Fox News, VP Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, defended Trump’s vitriol against deceased Michigan Rep John Dingell at a rally last week in Battle Creek, Michigan.
While stating that the Trump administration respected Dingell’s service to the country, Short said that Trump’s remarks were “understandable” in light of the impeachment unfolding that night in front of a wild crowd.
“John Dingell was not exactly a wallflower,” he added. “John Dingell called the president an imbecile in his closing months.”
Short said that although Congressman Dingell was critical of Trump, he still called his widow to express condolences.
In an interview on Sunday with Chris Wallace, Debbie Dingell reiterated that she was grateful for the call she received, but that Trump’s words about her deceased husband looking up from hell “just sort of kicked me in the stomach.”
“We have to learn in our country that you can disagree agreeably,” she said. “I understand that this impeachment was a very personal issue to him, but I think there are lines that you don’t cross, and I think he crossed a line there.”
Dingell did not call for Trump to apologize but said, “What I do want is people to take a deep breath and think going forward that their words have consequences.”
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham also defended Trump’s remarks last week calling him a counter-puncher under attack, explaining that he was “just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the past few days.”
Lindsey Graham also made remarks that Trump’s comments were “out of bounds” and called for an apology from Trump.
“I can understand being frustrated, but Mr. President, pull us together as a country. This joke does not help. It is not funny in my view,” Graham told reporters Friday after a White House meeting.