Jayne O'Donnell

USA TODAY

Donald Trump had to tweet about stars without stripes this Independence Day as the controversy continued over a deleted tweet from Saturday with what many believed was an anti-Semitic use of the Star of David.

Trump tweeted Monday that it was really a sheriff's star superimposed on a pile of money to illustrate a fake magazine cover declaring Hillary Clinton the "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!" And it was the "dishonest media" yet again that stirred up the controversy.

Monday night, Trump posted a statement on Facebook from his social media director, who took responsibility for the tweet and said the sheriff's badge was available under Microsoft's "shapes."

"As the Social Media Director for the campaign, I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image," said Scavino.

The Verge reported the original tweet was posted on Trump's Twitter account at 9:37 a.m. ET, and stayed up for more than two hours before it was deleted. A similar tweet was later posted with a circle instead of a star.

The meme was traced back to a right-leaning comedian's Twitter account and an active neo-Nazi Internet message board, where the image has since been deleted. Unlike many of Trump's controversial earlier tweets, however, Saturday's post wasn't a retweet.

Sarah Bard, director of Jewish outreach for Clinton's campaign, issued a statement Monday saying Trump's use of a "blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites" is part of a pattern that "should give voters major cause for concern."

"Now, not only won't he apologize for it, he's peddling lies and blaming others," said Bard. "Trump should be condemning hate, not offering more campaign behavior and rhetoric that engages extremists."

Trump's own statement called the accusations "ridiculous." Clinton, he said, "is just trying to divert attention from the dishonest behavior of herself and her husband."

Trump's anti-Clinton 'Star of David' tweet appeared on white supremacist site