Georgia state Sen. Michael Williams defended any use of the n-word that Donald Trump may have said while hosting "The Apprentice" reality TV show as acceptable professionally, with the use of the n-word apparently only a political problem if uttered while in office.
CNN "New Day" anchor Victor Blackwell admitted that "this is not where I expected this conversation to go" during the bizarre interchange with the Republican lawmaker.
Blackwell asked Sen. Williams about Unhinged, the new book by former White House staffer and "Apprentice" contestant Omarosa Manigault-Newman.
"She claims that she has heard the president use the n-word on recording, multiple times," Blackwell noted. "Would it matter to if he had?"
"Yes, it would matter. It would matter as an individual, it would not necessarily matter to me as the person that is running our country," Williams replied. "He has his personal beliefs, his personal ideas, but I truly believe he is able to separate those from how he is running the country."
"If he was president and goes on TV and uses the n-word, yes, I would have a problem with that, but he did it before he was president," Williams said.
"So wait a minute," Blackwell interrupted. "He did it before he was president, so it's okay?"
"No, I never said it was okay. it's always wrong for me, individually," he answered. "I always have a problem with it, I don't have a problem with Donald Trump having used it in the past as my president."
"Just because he may have done it years ago, not as our president, doesn't mean we need to continue to berate him because he used it," the Georgia Republican argued.
"This is not where I expected this conversation to go, senator," Blackwell noted.
"Personally, it is always wrong, it is always wrong to use that word, but as the president today, he has not used that word. As a president today, he has not done that," Williams claimed. "To hold somebody accountable for something he did years ago as our president today, I think it sets a bad precedent."
"So if the tape comes out, your defense is to hold him accountable as a television host is a bad precedent?" Blackwell followed-up.
"I think it can set it up for a lot of bad things," Sen Williams argued.
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