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U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham, addresses rowdy crowd at a Saturday morning town hall in Novi. (Dana Afana | MLive.com)

(Dana Afana | MLive.com)

NOVI -- A Michigan Republican strategist is standing by comments he made on a live microphone in the moments after a tense Saturday town hall meeting with U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham.

Trott faced a raucous crowd heavy with advocates for the Affordable Care Act, who for weeks pressured Trott to meet with constituents about health insurance policy.

He did so in an 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 18 town hall, after which a live WDIV microphone picked up comments reacting to the tough crowd:

"We're going to take that part where they're booing funding the military, and I'm gonna get somebody to write a story," a voice is heard saying to Trott. "We're going to promote the sh** out of that. It's un-American crap."

Rep. Dave Trott holds a public town hall meeting to discuss repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Posted by WDIV Local 4 / ClickOnDetroit on Saturday, March 18, 2017

The Michigan Democratic Party seized on the opportunity to criticize Trott.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon said Trott would rather "smear the people he's supposed to serve" than explain how the policies he supports affect people.

"Instead of having the courage to give honest answers about his support for Donald Trump and a health care repeal that will cost more than 42,000 people in his district their coverage, Trott and his staff get rid of the questions they don't like and question the patriotism of the people that disagree with him," Dillon said. "... This is the behavior of someone who is afraid of having the truth exposed."

But the comments did not come from the congressman.

Stu Sandler, a Republican strategist who previously consulted for Trott, took responsibility for the words.

"I was bothered by the fact that the majority of the crowd booed the statement that Congressman Trott said they're funding the military," Sandler said. "These are people who weren't interested in real dialogue. All they were doing is shouting and booing."

During the town hall, Trott expressed support for boosting military funding, asking the crowd to "name one place in the world today that's better off than it was eight years ago when President Obama [was in office]," to which people began chanting "USA!"

"Our military is weaker than it's ever been before," Trott said at the town hall.

Sandler said there needs to be a better way to handle disagreements with representatives than shouting and screaming, emphasizing the need for more dialogue.