Bishop defends plea for mercy made to Trump: 'We're in a particularly harsh moment now'

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde in an interview late Wednesday defended the recent plea for mercy she made to President Trump that sparked his demand for an apology.

“We're in a particularly harsh moment now when it comes to conversations around immigrant populations in our midst,” Budde, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s spiritual leader, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “And so that was the reason for the … tone I took now, but it could’ve been a very different tone in a different context.”

During an inauguration National Cathedral prayer service on Tuesday, Budde called upon Trump to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared.”

“There are gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democratic, Republican, independent families — some who fear for their lives,” Budde added.

Trump said after the service that it wasn't "too exciting."

The president criticized Budde the following morning and demanded an apology.

“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Budde told Maddow on Wednesday that she “wanted to make, as you heard, a plea, a request” to Trump “that he broaden his characterization of the people that are, are frightened now and are at risk of losing everything.”

She also said that she “thought I would acknowledge, to the president, acknowledge that he had come to the highest office of the land, that he had — millions of people had entrusted him with this power.”

GOP Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) said after the service that Budde "should be added to the deportation list.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Budde's most recent remarks.

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