WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directly condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis in a statement from the White House Monday afternoon.
“Racism is evil — and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” Trump said in response to the attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.
“Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America,” Trump said.
Democrats and Republicans criticized President Trump for his unwillingness to condemn the groups behind the violent protests that left one woman dead after a man with white supremacy groups allegedly hit her with a car.
After blaming the violence “on many sides” Saturday, President Trump stayed silent for close to 48 hours.
The comments came as he took a short break from his 17-day long working vacation in New York and New Jersey with a trip to the White House. He initially returned to Washington to meet with top administration officials and sign a presidential memorandum directing his U.S. trade representative to determine whether an investigation is needed into China’s laws and policies related to trade and intellectual property.
An unnamed White House official said Sunday that “of course” the President condemns “white supremacists, KKK, neo-nazi and all extremist groups,” but declined to explain why the President wasn’t saying it himself.
President Trump also remained mum on Twitter, declining to send a single tweet of his own Sunday.
He did, however, use Twitter on Monday to slam Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck Pharma, who resigned from the manufacturing council over his failure to condemn white supremacists.
“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES,” Trump tweeted.
