The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 15, 2017:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended some of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who were part of the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, protests last weekend, saying there were “very fine people” on both sides of the racially charged unrest.
A defiant Trump, just a day after slamming the pro-white groups who organized the two-day protests of the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, appeared to give some of their members cover. “There is blame on both sides,” he told reporters during what amounted to a brief impromptu press conference at Trump Tower in New York.
“I don’t have any doubt about it,” said the president, who has been accused of spreading rhetoric and ideas floated by the alt-right political movement that has ties to white supremacist groups.
Trump said the white supremacist groups in Charlottesville “bad,” but said the anti-protesters also were “very violent.” He added in a chiding tone: “Nobody wants to say that. … I’ll say that right now.” Continue reading “Far-Right Protesters in Virginia Included ‘Very Fine’ People, Trump Says”