One of Donald Trump's campaign advisors is backing the US President's claim that "fake news" is to blame for any link made been himself and the Christchurch terror attacks.
Steven Rogers, president of the American Winning Coalition and member of the Donald J. Trump for President 2020 Campaign Advisory Board, spoke to The AM Show on Wednesday.
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He says Trump is being unfairly linked to the Christchurch terror attacks and has never played a role in inciting violence against minorities.
"The President of the United States is not, is not encouraging white nationalism, he has nothing to do with white nationalism and I can tell you that in this country he is being heralded as being one of the most effective presidents who has worked with our minority communities and people from all ethnicities.
"A lot of presidents have been surrounded by a lot of people from different backgrounds, but no President, at least in my lifetime, has come under the intense fire that he has from all political persuasions."
The accused gunman's manifesto praised the US President as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose".
The reference revived criticism that Trump has not been strong enough in condemning hate speech and has fomented anti-Muslim sentiment.
Rogers says he has attended Trump rallies and any claim that the President has used those events to incite racist or xenophobic ideology is completely false.
"I have never, ever, ever heard the President target Muslims or target anyone of a different ethnic background than he is.
"It has a lot to do with... fake news, but I like to call it the false narratives for political agenda."
However, numerous examples can be found on YouTube alone of Trump using rallies to highlight the threat of Muslims to the US public.
Trump also has a history of sharing content created by far-right groups on his own social media accounts. One such occasion saw him re-tweet three videos posted by the leader of a far-right extremist party in Britain.
Piers Morgan, a British journalist and television host who was also a winner on Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," was quick to rebuke the president's tweets.
The AM Show host Duncan Garner confronted Rogers with his own examples of quotes from Trump including "Muslims hate us" and "The Brits are trying hard to hide their massive Muslim problem" and Rogers denied ever hearing of them.
"If he has said these things, I have not heard him say these things personally."
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