In the latest embarrassment for Newt Gingrich’s floundering presidential campaign, an ABC producer discovered that Gingrich’s campaign T-shirts are not being made in America, but in El Salvador, even as Gingrich spends his time on the campaign trail calling American manufacturing “crucial” to the economy’s future. Gingich has also slammed the Obama administration for being “anti-manufacturing.”
According to the producer, Gingrich had originally said he would make sure his campaign gear was manufactured in America. Gingrich was confronted about the gear on the campaign trail as he awkwardly held up one of the shirts in question:
ABC: I just picked up that one and it was made in El Salvador…It was a big thing when we talked to your campaign people about how you wanted things to be made in America, do you have plans to change things?
GINGRICH: I have no — I’ll have to ask the folks who ordered this. I don’t order it and I don’t do it.
CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: That was a rush order made by some of the volunteers.
GINGRICH: One of the challenges with a volunteer campaign is lots of volunteers do lots of different things.
Watch it:
Gingrich spokesperson Michelle Selesky tried to intervene by throwing the blame on campaign volunteers. Gingrich quickly took the cue and echoed her excuse.
On the campaign trail, Gingrich has repeatedly called for a resurgence in American manufacturing. He has denounced the EPA, the National Labor Relations Board and other agencies and regulations for “killing manufacturing jobs.” However, in March, Gingrich also made a misstep when he said that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) worked because it created jobs — in Mexico and Canada.
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