Virginia AG challenges Trump’s ‘many sides’ comment on Charlottesville violence

The attorney general of Virginia called out President Trump for failing to directly blame “racists and white supremacists” following the Charlottesville, Va., protests that turned violent on Saturday.

“The violence, chaos, and apparent loss of life in Charlottesville is not the fault of ‘many sides.’ It is racists and white supremacists,” Mark Herring tweeted.

The violence, chaos, and apparent loss of life in Charlottesville is not the fault of “many sides.” It is racists and white supremacists.

— Mark Herring (@MarkHerringVA) August 12, 2017

One person was confirmed dead and over a dozen others were injured when a car drove directly into a crowd of people protesting against a “Unite the Right” demonstration by white nationalist and alt-right groups.

Trump addressed the violent protests from his family company’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., on Saturday.

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“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides — on many sides,” he said. 

Herring joins several other lawmakers, including Republicans, who criticized Trump for failing to label the perpetrators of the violence as white nationalists and for condemning violence “on many sides.”

“Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted.

Herring previously tweeted a picture of the “Unite the Right” demonstrators surrounding counter-protesters at a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at a park in Charlottesville. “What a sad spectacle from such small people,” he said. 

What a sad spectacle from such small people. https://t.co/QUOsGpzAro

— Mark Herring (@MarkHerringVA) August 12, 2017

The “Unite the Right” march was originally intended as a protest of the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, before a vote to change its name earlier this year. A judge’s ruling on its removal is expected to come later this month.