Subject: Coverage of Indiana call
From: "Helmstetter, TJ" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 11:35:26 -0700

http://www.wibc.com/news/local-news/carson-democrats-criticize-trump-during-his-indy-visit

Carson, Democrats Criticize Trump During His Indy Visit
Carson says Republican rhetoric of the past three years helped create Trump
Ray Steele<http://www.wibc.com/personalities/ray-steele>

Democrats are talking Donald Trump in Indy, talking him down, anyway.

During a conference call with reporters, Indianapolis Congressman Andre Carson and state Democratic Party Chairman John Zody criticized the Republican presidential front runner, with Zody saying Trump was welcome to come back to Indiana "after we elect a Democratic president."  Carson also brought up Trump's past criticism of Islam - Carson is one of two Muslims serving in Congress.

Trump holds a rally at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, his first in the state as a presidential candidate, and Carson says his rallies have featured some of the ugliest rhetoric he has ever heard in politics.  "He's inciting violence at his rallies, he's encouraging the crowd to beat up Black Lives Matters protestors, and he's waffling on whether to denounce the Ku Klux Klan.  Trump knows exactly what he is doing," Carson said.

The Congressman also said Trump was the result of, not the cause of, partisan rancor ever since the GOP's "autopsy" of their 2012 presidential election loss.  "The Republican Party has done nothing in the three years since it released it's autopsy to build a relationship with people of color or to make us feel welcome," Carson said.  The supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign also didn't limit his criticism to Trump only. "You have (Ted) Cruz, who can try to distance himself from Trump's extremism, but in reality, he doesn't provide a reasonable alternative to the divisive rhetoric spread by the Republican Party," Carson said.  The congressman also criticized third-place candidate John Kasich for his anti-abortion positions as Ohio's governor.

@WIBCRaySteele<https://twitter.com/WIBCRaySteele>

TJ Helmstetter
Deputy Director of Regional and Specialty Media
Democratic National Committee
202.863.8022 - desk
973.464.9224 - cell
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>