White House updates Trump’s Charlottesville statement to condemn ‘extremist groups’
The Trump administration tried to reframe the president’s earlier, vague statement that blamed “many sides” for violence in Charlottesville
The Trump administration on Sunday tried to reframe the president’s earlier, vague statement that blamed “many sides” for violence in Charlottesville, Va., a day earlier, after his comments sparked outrage from at least a dozen prominent Republican lawmakers.
In a statement, the White House sought to clarify that the president condemns violence, bigotry and hatred, and it said “of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazis and all extremist groups.”
The clarification came less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump seemingly blamed both white supremacists and counter-protesters for the vitriol and clashes in the Virginia college town, which resulted in three deaths and left about 20 people injured.
Democrats and civil rights groups jumped on Trump’s initial statement to cast the administration as tolerant of well-known hate groups and ill-equipped to stand for all Americans.
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On Sunday morning, the Trump administration tried to mollify its critics with appearances by a handful of senior administration officials on news programs.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” national security adviser H.R. McMaster called the Charlottesville clashes an act of “domestic terrorism.” This echoed the words of Republican lawmakers such as Sens. Gardner and Marco Rubio, who made such pronouncements on Twitter in an effort to put distance between themselves and the president.
The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump also weighed in via Twitter. “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis,” her post read.
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White House updates Trump's Charlottesville statement to condemn 'extremist groups'https://t.co/eRgxOhNdjJ
— POLITICO (@politico) August 13, 2017
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