Story highlights "He's just answering questions," said Lord

"He was really angry that -- he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War," Trump said

(CNN) Criticism over President Donald Trump's controversial remarks about former President Andrew Jackson and the origins of the Civil War are "overblown," CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord said Tuesday.

"He's just answering questions," said Lord, an outspoken Trump supporter, on CNN's "New Day." "This Civil War issue, I think, has been way overblown."

Lord went on to say the President was attempting to argue Jackson -- a slave owner -- would have been more decisive in ending slavery had he arrived in the White House many years later.

"He used the phrase, 'If Andrew Jackson had been there a little later,' meaning if he had been president, he might have been a whole lot less passive than (President) James Buchanan was," Lord said.

"That's a perfectly reasonably historical point of view," he added.

Read More