Dwyane Wade: Trump tweet left a 'bad taste in my mouth'

In his first comments since Donald Trump marked the shooting death of his cousin in Chicago with a tweet declaring it more evidence that African-Americans would vote for Trump, basketball star Dwyane Wade said the Republican nominee's message left him feeling "kind of conflicted."

"You know, it’s like, on one hand, your cousin’s death is used as a ploy for political gain," Wade told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview airing Friday on "Good Morning America." But, Wade acknowledged that the violence in his hometown of Chicago is a "national story," adding, "I want eyes on this city."


Wade said that while he was "grateful that it started a conversation," it also left a "bad taste in my mouth, because of you know, what my family is dealing with and what our city of Chicago is dealing with, and it looks like it’s being used as a political gain.”

After news broke of the death of Nykea Aldridge, who was not the intended target of the shooting, Trump tweeted, "Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!" He initially misspelled Wade's first name, later fixing the tweet and expressing his condolences in a later message.

Trump senior adviser Tana Goertz told CNN's "New Day" that she was not aware if he had apologized to the Wade family after the Chicago Bulls player made those comments, but quickly added that Trump " would be the first to say, absolutely, I'm sorry I did not mean that to come across that way."

"But at the end of the day, we are talking about how safe — or how unsafe our country is and how we do need to stop these criminals and we do need to protect our country," Goertz said. "Hillary Clinton is not talking about that. And Donald Trump is the only one that is saying we need to keep America safe again. So he by no means meant any harm by that. I can guarantee you that."