By Eric Bradner, CNN
[van id=”politics/2016/11/06/donald-trump-rushed-off-stage-erin-sot.cnn”]
Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway called a situation at a Trump rally in which the Secret Service intervened Saturday “scary.”
But she deflected questions from CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” about why Donald Trump Jr. and Trump social media director Dan Scavino retweeted comments describing what occurred as an assassination attempt, when no such attempt took place. Trump supporters had incorrectly thought the protester had a gun.
“It’s scary — I mean, all the coverage is usually about our protesters wreaking havoc and making people feel afraid, and it certainly goes both ways,” Conway said Sunday during the at-times contentious interview.
“I’m glad nobody was hurt, but it does remind you that in these closing days — especially as the polls tighten — many of us are getting more death threats, getting more angry messages on social media and elsewhere, and it’s a pretty fraught environment there,” she said.
Conway wouldn’t directly address the retweets calling what happened in Reno, Nevada, on Saturday an assassination attempt.
“If you’re Don Jr. and you’re on a live TV set while you’re watching this unfold, it’s pretty rattling to think of what may have happened to your father, so I’ll excuse him that,” Conway said.
Tapper pushed back, noting it wasn’t an assassination attempt.
“We’re very happy that this was not an assassination attempt, but why is your campaign spreading that it was?” Tapper asked.
Conway responded: “Well, how do you — first of all, that’s really remarkable, I have to say, that that’s what the story line is here.”
Conway also addressed claims at the Trump rally in Nevada on Saturday by a local GOP official that polls in Clark County, home of Las Vegas, were kept open late so a “certain group” could vote — a thinly veiled reference to Latino voters.
However, polling places are typically kept open so that anyone in line when those polls close is able to remain in line until they cast their ballots.
“We just always want the laws followed and the rules followed, and I do predict that you’re going to see really long lines — serpentine-like lines of Tuesday — of folks there for Donald Trump on Tuesday,” Conway said.
She said it’s concerning that Clinton benefits from “special favors and perhaps special rules” — as Tapper pointed out that keeping polls open in Las Vegas so that those already in line could vote was not out of the ordinary.
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