As Twitchy told you, earlier today, Donald Trump disavowed the audience’s chants of “send her back” at last night’s rally. Now, whether you take him at his word is up to you. But Jake Tapper and CNN apparently think it’s up to them:

Trump claims to disavow racist chant after pressure from allieshttps://t.co/YDkWOEWqkc — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 18, 2019

Beg your pardon?

How do you "claim to disavow" something? Either he did or he didn't. https://t.co/0mm9UgEvk7 — [shrug emoji] (@jtLOL) July 18, 2019

“Claims” Did he disavow or didn’t he? https://t.co/Woed3Yvkbt — LaurieAnn ??‍♂️ (@mooshakins) July 18, 2019

He didn’t “claim” he did — Me (@PensYanks) July 18, 2019

He didn’t claim to, he did. — Milton (@LFTUnderworld) July 18, 2019

He did indeed:

JUST IN: "I was not happy with it. I disagree with it," Pres. Trump says of “send her back” chant from crowd at his campaign rally last night. He asserts he tried to stop the chant by "very quickly" speaking again as the chant broke out, despite a long pause during the chant. pic.twitter.com/TZ3Ak4FkKy — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 18, 2019

You might not believe he meant it, but he definitely said it.

“Claims?”

Is that ever used when others make similar statements? — Jim Tunney (@JimTunney7) July 18, 2019

Not really. But allow Tapper and “The Lead” to rephrase:

After racist tweets, Trump now tries to disavow ‘send her back’ chants at rally @PamelaBrownCNN reports @TheLeadCNN https://t.co/YJQEvpV8Wp pic.twitter.com/Wh231peU6h — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 18, 2019

Yeah, that’s much better. The “Lead” segment still says “claims,” but whatever.

Nice work, guys.

Because this … is CNN.

“Claims to disavow”. This is CNN — E. (@lnTransit) July 18, 2019

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Related:

Look, ma! I’m journalisming! Brian Stelter leads media charge to prove Trump is lying about disavowing ‘send her back’ chants