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August 14, 2017

Trump Refuses to Explicitly Condemn White Supremacist Violence
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President Trump, however, refused to single out white supremacist
violence.

President Donald Trump: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this
egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides-on many
sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country-not Donald
Trump, not Barack Obama. It's been going on for a long, long time. It
has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law
and order and the protection of innocent lives."

Trump's comments sparked widespread outrage. A new White House statement
on Sunday explicitly denounced the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, but
it was attributed to an unnamed spokesperson and not the president
himself. Other members of the Trump administration have more explicitly
condemned the violence. Trump's national security adviser, H.R. Mc
Master, said the attack constituted terrorism.

Meanwhile, Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Jim Gray says the city will remove
two Confederate monuments from the former courthouse after the white
supremacist violence in Virginia. After headlines, we'll go to
Charlottesville, Virginia, and spend the rest of the hour speaking with
people who were there on Saturday, including a witness to the deadly
attack, a nurse who treated the injured counterprotesters, a faith
leader and more.


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