Two days after a 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 people were injured, five critically, as white supremacists and counter protesters clashed in the streets of Charlottesville, Va., President Trump declared that “racism is evil” and announced that the Justice Department will open a civil rights investigation into that deadly car attack.
“Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis and white supremacists,” Trump said, reading from a teleprompter. “To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered.”
Initially, during a bill sign ceremony at his golf club in Bedminster, Trump addressed the situation in Charlottesville by saying: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides — on many sides.”
As Trump remained out of sight and silent, he received an avalanche of criticism from both sides of the aisle for his initial response and for him to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups involved in the Charlottesville violence.
Before today’s latest statement, Trump was on Twitter criticizing the African American CEO of Merck, Kenneth Frazier, who resigned from a White House manufacturing council in protest of Trump’s failure to explicitly condemn the racists in Charlottesville.
