AOS (Armed Offenders Squad) push back members of the public following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. Martin Hunter | Reuters

A top White House official said Sunday that President Donald Trump "is not a white supremacist" and attempts to tie him to the alleged New Zealand mosque shooter are "absurd." Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, described the New Zealand shooter as a "disturbed individual" and "evil person" and said it was unfair to cast the 28-year-old Australian "as a supporter of Donald Trump any more than it is to look at his, sort of his eco-terrorist passages in that manifesto and align him with Nancy Pelosi or Ms. Ocasio-Cortez." Pelosi, a California Democrat, is the House speaker. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, is a freshman and major proponent of a plan, named the Green New Deal, for tackling climate change. "This was a disturbed individual, an evil person, and to try and tie him to an American politician from either party probably ignores some of the deeper, difficulties that this sort of activity exposes," Mulvaney said. Still, Mulvaney's defense of Trump failed to quiet calls, chiefly from Democrats, for the president to issue a forceful denunciation of white nationalism. They argue that Trump's rhetoric, including harsh comments about immigrants and Muslims, encourages individuals like the New Zealand shooter. Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the man accused of the deadly shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, left behind a lengthy document that proudly stated he was a white nationalist who hates immigrants and was set off by attacks in Europe that were perpetrated by Muslims.

"Were/are you a supporter of Donald Trump?" was one of the questions he posed to himself in the document. His answer: "As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear God no." The attacks left 50 people dead, and 34 others wounded, a dozen of them critically.

The president's record

Mulvaney said Trump is a defender of religious minorities worldwide and that his actions speak louder than his words. "Look at what we've done while we've been here," he said. "I don't think anybody could say that the president is anti-Muslim." Before Mulvaney appeared on the Sunday talk shows, Trump tweeted in defense of Fox News weekend host Jeanine Pirro, whose program did not air in its regular Saturday time slot. Fox offered no explanation, but Pirro's absence from the lineup followed anti-Muslim comments she directed last week toward Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota., one of three Muslims in Congress, who wears a head covering known as a hijab. Trump tweeted "Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro." Mulvaney also addressed a threat by North Korea to reconsider its halt to nuclear and ballistic missile tests, saying such a move would be a "truly disappointing turn of events." The threat followed the collapse of nuclear disarmament talks last month between Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. The chief of staff also expressed confidence that Trump's veto of a measure blocking his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border -- in order to build a border wall -- will be upheld when the House votes later this month to override the president. "It doesn't have a chance," Mulvaney said of the vote set for March 26.

Rising white nationalism