Donald Trump's social media director posted an explanation on Facebook. | Getty Trump calls Clinton's claims of anti-Semitism 'ridiculous'

Donald Trump doubled down on his defense of a tweet widely panned as anti-Semitic in a press release Monday, ripping Hillary Clinton for her "ridiculous" and "false" accusation in the process.

In the statement, the Trump campaign again claimed that a tweet featuring an image of Clinton and a six-sided star that read “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” was not in fact the Judaic Star of David, but rather a "basic star," such as those sported by sheriffs.


"These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says 'Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever' with anti-Semitism is ridiculous," the campaign wrote.

The Saturday post by Trump, which placed a picture of Clinton over a pile of hundred dollar bills and the aforementioned star, generated strong backlash from Democrats and Republicans alike. The image had previously appeared on a white supremacist website though it's not clear where the candidate obtained the image. Trump subsequently deleted his post.

Later Monday, the social media director of Trump campaign, Daniel Scavino Jr., posted an explanation of the image on Facebook:

"The social media graphic used this weekend was not created by the campaign nor was it sourced from an anti-Semitic site. It was lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user where countless images appear. The sheriff’s badge — which is available under Microsoft’s “shapes” — fit with the theme of corrupt Hillary and that is why I selected it. As the Social Media Director for the campaign, I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image."





Earlier Monday, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, blasted Trump for his use “use of anti-Semitic imagery," adding that his behavior “should give voters major cause for concern.”

“Donald Trump’s use of a blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign would be disturbing enough, but the fact that it’s a part of a pattern should give voters major cause for concern,” said Clinton’s director of Jewish outreach, Sarah Bard, in a statement. “Now, not only won't he apologize for it, he's peddling lies and blaming others.”

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, was also skeptical of Trump's statement and explanations. "This isn't a liberal or conservative issue. It's just common sense," he stated. "It's long past time for Trump to unequivocally reject the hate-filled extremists orbiting around his campaign."

In Monday's press release, Trump pushed back by repeating past criticisms of Clinton's "dishonest behavior" and of husband Bill Clinton's recent meeting with U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch.

"Clinton, through her surrogates, is just trying to divert attention from the dishonest behavior of herself and her husband," the statement read. "The real questions are, why was Bill Clinton meeting secretly with the US Attorney General on her case and where are the 33,000 missing emails and all of the other information missing from her case — Why are there so many lies?"