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August 15, 2017

Trump Begrudgingly Condemns White Supremacist Violence But Fails to Fire Bannon
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Amid the extraordinary pressure of the growing street and corporate
protests Monday, President Trump finally condemned the deadly white
supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, which killed one
person and injured dozens.

President Donald Trump: "Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in
its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white
supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we
hold dear as Americans."

After making his statement, Trump refused to take any questions from
reporters, despite having promised to hold a news conference. Later in
the day, after a separate announcement, CNN's Jim Acosta tried to ask
Trump about his Charlottesville statements.

Jim Acosta: "Mr. President, can you explain why you did not condemn
those hate groups by name over the weekend?"

President Donald Trump: "They've been condemned. They have been
condemned."

Jim Acosta: "And why are we not having a press conference today? You
said on Friday we'd have a press conference."

President Donald Trump: "We had a press conference. We just had the
press conference."

Jim Acosta: "Can we ask you some more questions then, sir?"

President Donald Trump: "It doesn't bother me at all. But, you know, I
like real news, not fake news. You're fake news. Thank you, everybody."

Jim Acosta: "Mr. President, haven't you spread a lot of fake news
yourself?"

Despite Trump's begrudging condemnation of white supremacist violence,
he also tried to deflect and distract from this violence by retweeting a
tweet about crime in Chicago by a far-right-wing conspiracy theorist.
The tweet was originally written by right-wing extremist Jack Posobiec,
known for spreading conspiracy theories, such as Pizzagate. Trump also
failed to succumb to mounting pressure, both from within and outside the
administration, to fire his chief strategist Stephen Bannon, former head
of Breitbart News, which promotes far-right-wing and white nationalist
propaganda.


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