Lawmakers unite in condemning Trump's latest comments on Charlottesville

Marco Rubio.
(Image credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Kelly Craft)

Lawmakers of all political stripes blasted President Trump for his remarks Tuesday regarding the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, which ended with a counter-protester's death after she was run over by a car. Trump said "both sides" were to blame for the violence, and he defended white nationalists who were there protesting a "very important statue" coming down, calling some of them "very fine people."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted that the organizers of the event are "100 percent to blame for a number of reasons" and Trump can't "allow white supremacists to share only part of blame. They support idea which cost nation and world so much pain. The white supremacy groups will see being assigned only 50 percent of blame as a win. We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected." Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said that "'very fine people' do not participate in rallies with groups chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans and displaying vile symbols of hate."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.