An adviser for Donald Trump’s campaign defended the businessman’s spirituality after he misspoke when quoting a Bible verse at Liberty University, insisting that “he’s a person of deep faith, he’s just not a person that puts it on his sleeve.”
Sam Clovis, Trump’s campaign co-chair, appeared on CNN’s “New Day” Thursday morning and rejected the suggestion that Trump was pandering to evangelicals in light of Trump’s admission that he misspoke saying “2 Corinthians” rather than “second Corinthians” at Liberty because he was referring to notes from Tony Perkins.
“I work with him. I’m around him. I spend a lot of time with him. He’s a person of deep faith. He’s just not a person that puts it on his sleeve and enunciates that,” Clovis told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
Trump said in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon Wednesday that Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, had given him notes on what to say when he visited the evangelical university in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Tony Perkins wrote that out for me — he actually wrote out 2, he wrote out the number 2 Corinthians,” Trump said. “I took exactly what Tony said, and I said, ‘Well, Tony has to know better than anybody.’ ”
Trump’s pronunciation of the Bible verse drew laughter from the Christian audience — but he downplayed it, saying his Scottish mother would have said “two Corinthians,” as well.
Clovis, who referred to himself as an “orthodox conservative,” said “spiritual life is a journey.”
“I think his spiritual journey is one where he is internalizing this as he goes forward,” Clovis said. “I’m very confident that Donald Trump is a person of faith, and I love being around him. In fact, a couple of us there, we often sit down and talk about these very issues with Mr. Trump, so I’m not in any doubt about the depth of Donald Trump’s faith.”
Clovis also discussed Trump’s stepped up criticism of Republican rival Ted Cruz, whom in recent weeks Trump has called “nasty” while referencing Cruz’s unpopularity in Congress.
“What Mr. Trump is passing on is what other people are saying about Ted Cruz,” Clovis said. “The inside the beltway stuff is I think really fascinating, when you start to see the interactions inside the United States Senate, and who is able to get along and who is not. And I think that is where those comments come from.”
He added: “People who work with Sen. Cruz inside the Senate — that’s the word that gets out on the street. All Mr. Trump is doing is passing on what other people are saying about Ted Cruz.”
Rick Tyler, Cruz’s communications director, countered Trump’s attacks.
“You can see it in the polls, the establishment now, who you are right, doesn’t like Ted Cruz, is rallying behind Donald Trump,” Tyler said on CNN’s “New Day.” “And so the race has come down to what it always does, a conservative int he race, Ted Cruz, and a moderate liberal in the race, Donald Trump.”
“And by the way, the voters like Ted Cruz,” he said. “Donald Trump is not very liked by the voters. So while he may like the people on the inside, and the people on the inside who he writes checks to may like him, that is the whole problem. Washington doesn’t need another inside paymaster for the cartel.”