President Trump faced heavy criticism for declining to call out white nationalist groups by name following violent demonstrations in Charlottesville over the weekend, a decision that Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed Monday on Today. "[Trump] made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of hated, violence, bigotry, racism, white supremacy," Sessions told Today's Savannah Guthrie. "Those things must be condemned in this country."
Guthrie, though, pressed the question further. "You say that it was a forceful statement but [Trump] adds that this violence that's been going on, this hatred and bigotry, was on 'many sides,'" she said. "'On many sides,' he says, which seems to equivocate. What are the other sides?"
"We've had violence around the country in any number of ways over decades," Sessions answered, adding: "I'm sure [Trump] will talk about it again soon." Watch below. Jeva Lange
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
-
A tour of southern GreenlandThe Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
-
Sudoku hard: August 10, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oilSpeed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
NY's Hochul vows response to Texas gerrymanderSpeed Read Gov. Kathy Hochul has promised to play ball with redistricting that favors the Democrats
-
Texas Democrats exit state to block redistricting voteSpeed Read More than 51 legislators fled the state in protest of the GOP's plan to redraw congressional districts
