WASHINGTON — In the wake of President Donald Trump’s remarks that “both sides” share blame for Saturday’s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is blasting the president, saying he is “dividing people.”
McAuliffe said he doesn’t want Trump to visit Charlottesville if the president continues using rhetoric that is “dividing” the country.
“I disagree strongly with the president,” McAuliffe said Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”
“One group came, and they wanted to harm people. On the other side were the folks who were protesting hatred and bias and bigotry. They are two, entirely separate groups.”
The Democratic governor said Trump should come to the city if he wants to discuss how the nation can heal.
Some Republicans and scores of Democrats have denounced Trump’s statements as putting white supremacists, who rallied against Charlottesville’s planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, on equal moral footing with counter-protesters.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday the president “took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency” between the groups.
Other leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, made forceful anti-racism statements but steered clear of mentioning Trump and his comments.
Under pressure, Trump made a specific condemnation of the violence Monday, naming white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. But he effectively erased the statement the following day during an impromptu news conference when he said “you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
“There’s no place in America for this type of hatred,” McAuliffe told “CBS This Morning,” referring to the words and actions of white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville.
The governor laid out his new position on monuments of Confederate leaders across Virginia, saying they should all be removed.
“They need to come down,” he said. “They are divisive symbols.”
McAuliffe is encouraging local governments and the General Assembly to take the monuments down and put them in museums. It’s a change of course for the governor, who had previously said he did not think the monuments needed to be removed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
