Pastor Mark Burns’ very bad week just got much worse.
Days after the top Trump backer and Republican convention speaker was forced to apologize for tweeting a cartoon of Hillary Clinton in blackface, CNN did some digging into his apparently inflated bio claims.
Burns on Friday admitted to overstating some of his Facebook claims. Then, on Saturday, CNN aired an interview with Burns, in which he struggles to explain his apparent resume inflation.
Here’s a recap:
1) Confronted with an apparently bogus claim that he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Burns initially says he “started the process” of joining the fraternity. Then he argues that such claims were added to his bio by a hacker.
2) When asked about the bio’s claim that he served six years in the Army Reserves, Burns says he did. When confronted with records that indicate he was actually in the National Guard, Burns says, “It is Reserves. The Army South Carolina National Guard is Reserves.” The difference between the two can be seen at: http://slate.me/2cxLVdg.
3) When confronted with his claim to have graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from North Greenville University, Burns tries to argue that the interview was and had been off the record.
BURNS: I asked you just a moment ago, as we opened up this – and first of all, I said we were off the record.
VICTOR BLACKWELL: I didn’t agree to that.
BURNS: Yeah, but I did. I did.
BLACKWELL: We’re still rolling. I’m still asking you questions on the record.
BURNS: I’m off the record. I’m off the record, because I think this is not fair that you – this is not fair at all. This is not what I agreed to. I thought we were doing a profile, and all the sudden you’re here to try and destroy my character.
4) Asked about his claim to be pursing a Master’s degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary, where he enrolled in 2008 but hasn’t advanced, Burns’ explanation shifts. He explains: “Do you know how old this (bio) is? This hasn’t been updated – I think there’s an updated profile on me that’s on the website.”
So asked whether the information is simply old or had been tampered with, Burns says, “These are old information. This is extremely, extremely old information.”
Then Burns walks away, mid-interview.
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