He wasn't defending the guy. He was saying he probably meant violence (which is also abhorrent) rather than lynching. In fact, he called the statements "fucked up", so he absolutely wasn't defending him. This is important because nobody fucking deals in the truth anymore.
Let me illustrate why this is important: Let's say that the NY case against Trump is flimsy or just wrong. Then you know what happens? It makes all future cases, which may be completely legitimate, much harder, because all it did was give credence to that bullshit "witchhunt" BS. This is very similar - if people exaggerate or lie, even about bad people, then it delegitimizes the actual fucked up things those people do.
And for you to attack the guy for that, lying about how he was defending the guy, is so fucking obnoxious, because all you've done is said that you don't value the truth, as long as the recipient is a bastard.