MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump is accused of stating “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city” during a meeting of House Republicans on Thursday. There is no recording of the comments, causing a stir regarding whether or not it’s true.
U.S. Congressman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin’s First Congressional District was in the room when the comments were allegedly made, but told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News he does not recall this statement.
“I was not recording. I wasn’t taking notes. I don’t believe he said that,” Congressman Steil said. “The broader context here that we’re talking about is, the President never discouraged the city of Milwaukee and was talking about specific challenges that we face in our nation’s largest cities.”
The Janesville native told WTMJ’s John Mercure and Julia Fello that the context of the alleged comments is not being provided. He claims that the alleged comments would’ve been part of a broader conversation about current issues faced by the City of Milwaukee.
Congressman Steil could not fully confirm nor deny the verbiage used by the former President — only that he doesn’t believe Trump “disparaged” the city. He was asked three times.
In addition to claims that Democrats and unspecified media outlets are driving a false narrative from this situation, Congressman Steil encouraged the people of Wisconsin to attend Donald Trump’s upcoming rally in Racine to hear him out. He stood firm in his belief that the context of these alleged comments was part of a nuanced conversation regarding issues plaguing Milwaukee and other big cities.
“The broader conversation there is — he wasn’t disparaging the city. We were talking about the challenges in the City of Milwaukee ranging from the elections challenges, where the election administrator had to be removed recently, to crime,” Rep. Steil explained. “Milwaukee Public Schools can’t even produce their financial reports.”
You can listen to the conversation in its entirety here in your browser, on the Wisconsin’s Afternoon News podcast page on WTMJ.com, or on your podcast platform of choice.
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