Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) said he had “zero indication ” that Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) had been racist while discussing the controversy surrounding a medical school yearbook photo of people in blackface and a Klan robe.
McAuliffe said, “Well, first he said it was Friday night. And if it wasn’t him in the photo, he should have said that on Friday. I have no idea what was going on in the governor’s office on Friday. I just — if you aren’t instinctively, you know if you put black paint on your face. You know if you put a hood on. And so if it isn’t you, you come out with immediately and say this is not me. So I can’t understand what’s going on. But I do know this. Ralph is a good, moral, decent man. And may have made some mistakes in his past. We all have made mistakes. Ralph will do the right thing for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He will put Virginia first.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “I know that the Ralph Northam you know, in your words is a good man but has he also been a racist?”
McCauliffe said, “I have zero indication of that.”
He continued, “So I can’t answer it, Jake. I’m telling you. I’m heartbroken. I don’t know how — I mean, I have been, it is — on Friday, I just don’t — I can’t explain to you my feeling, but you know, doesn’t matter how Terry Mcauliffe feels. That photo that was in that yearbook was so offensive to the African-American community that I can’t be in their shoes, and we’ve just got to get past this.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN