--- title: Trump Campaign Manager: He Didn't 'Lie' About Lester Holt description: When Donald Trump called the debate moderator a Democrat. He's actually a registered Republican. canonical: https://time.com/4507497/trump-campaign-manager-he-didnt-lie-about-lester-holt-because-he-didnt-know-the-facts/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-26T13:42:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:49:15.562Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Campaign Manager: He Didn't 'Lie' About Lester Holt og:description: When Donald Trump called the debate moderator a Democrat. He's actually a registered Republican. og:url: https://time.com/4507497/trump-campaign-manager-he-didnt-lie-about-lester-holt-because-he-didnt-know-the-facts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb375b8b06d5188b/6988a77397cdff5bcb6adeac/gettyimages-610197168.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In Roanoke, Virginia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Campaign Manager: He Didn't 'Lie' About Lester Holt twitter:description: When Donald Trump called the debate moderator a Democrat. He's actually a registered Republican. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb375b8b06d5188b/6988a77397cdff5bcb6adeac/gettyimages-610197168.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Campaign Manager: He Didn't Lie About Lester Holt Because He Didn't Know the Facts ## Video: What A Clinton vs Trump Debate Might Look Like [Watch (HLS stream): What A Clinton vs Trump Debate Might Look Like](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jeUYQHqg.m3u8) (2:04)  _Published 2016-03-31_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2016 1:42 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Berglund Center on September 24, 2016 in Roanoke, Virginia. Sara D. Davis—Getty Images Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Berglund Center on September 24, 2016 in Roanoke, Virginia. Sara D. Davis—Getty ImagesSara D. Davis—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2016 1:42 PM UTC Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway says the candidate didn’t lie when her erroneously [labeled NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt](http://time.com/4501616/donald-trump-debate-lester-holt-democrat/), a registered Republican, as a Democrat. Holt will moderate Monday night’s presidential debate at Hofstra University. In an interview on [MSNBC’s Morning Joe](https://twitter.com/Morning%5FJoe/status/780360090687647744), Conway said in order to lie, Trump would have had to know Holt’s party registration to begin with. “I don’t know that he knew what Lester Holt’s voter registration was,” she said. “He didn’t lie. A lie would mean that he knew the man’s party registration.” She added she thinks the candidate’s goal was to convey that the media are biased against conservatives and in general, more liberal. That’s not, however, what Trump said.“By the way, Lester is a Democrat. It’s a phony system. They are all Democrats. It’s a very unfair system,” he said. As [TIME’s Zeke Miller reported](http://time.com/4501616/donald-trump-debate-lester-holt-democrat/), Holt is a registered Republican in New York. Conway insisted on Monday the candidate was trying to make a larger point about media. “The thing that concerns us—not the moderators that have been selected by the commission, because they will be seen as fair and even handed,” Conway said. “What bothers us is the very public and very coordinated attempt to game the refs.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4507497/trump-campaign-manager-he-didnt-lie-about-lester-holt-because-he-didnt-know-the-facts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4507497/trump-campaign-manager-he-didnt-lie-about-lester-holt-because-he-didnt-know-the-facts/"},"headline":"Trump Campaign Manager: He Didn't Lie About Lester Holt Because He Didn't Know the Facts","datePublished":"2016-09-26T13:42:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:49:15.562Z","description":"When Donald Trump called the debate moderator a Democrat. 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