The FBI and DHS reportedly warned Trump of a possible rise in white nationalist extremism in May

A protestor holds a confederate flag in front of his face.

(Image credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)

published 14 August 2017

Months before Saturday's white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent, President Trump reportedly was warned about the growing threat of white nationalist extremism. Foreign Policy reported Monday that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security alerted Trump in a report dated May 10 that the white supremacist movement "likely will continue to pose a threat of lethal violence over the next year."

The report, titled "White Supremacist Extremism Poses Persistent Threat of Lethal Violence," found that white supremacists "were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016 … more than any other domestic extremist movement." The report went on to cite several instances of white nationalist violence, including "an 18-year-old Chinese student in Nashville, Indiana, who was attacked by a white supremacist with a hatchet," and "the stabbing of Klansman in East Yanceyville, North Carolina, by other KKK members, who believed the victim was Jewish and secretly working for law enforcement," Foreign Policy reported.

Despite the FBI's prior warning of white nationalist violence, President Trump was slow to directly condemn white supremacists in the wake of the rally, instead rebuking "many sides" for the weekend's violence. One woman was killed and 19 were injured after a driver plowed his car into a group of demonstrators protesting the alt-right rally.