Trump says 'Stop it!' to his followers harassing minorities

President-elect Donald Trump was interviewed by Lesley Stahl on '60 Minutes.

By Louis Chan
REPRINTED FROM ASAM NEWS

IN HIS first sit down interview since being elected, President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged to Lesley Stahl that some of his supporters may be harassing minorities after being asked about incidents directed at Latinos and Muslims.

“I am so saddened to hear that,” he said on 60 Minutes. “I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it — if it helps, I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: ‘Stop it.’ I would say don’t do it, that’s terrible, because I’m going to bring this country together,” said a much more subdued Trump, a contrast to the candidate Trump.

Many of the thousands of people who have taken the streets to protest Trump’s election would argue it was his own rhetoric during the campaign that has emboldened the KKK and other racists, but Trump blamed the media, saying there have been only a few examples of this happening.

Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Canter president, told CNN's "New Day" on Monday that there have been more that 300 incidents that their organization has recorded.
"He needs to take a little bit more responsibility for what's happening," Cohen said.

In the 40-minute interview, Trump repeated his pledge to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexican border, but rather than calling Mexican immigrants “rapists and murderers,” as he did during the campaign, he called Mexicans “terrific” people.

“After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people,”Trump said. “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he said.

###