Trump praises 'great general' Robert E. Lee, defends Charlottesville comments

President Trump on Friday defended his Charlottesville response a day after former Vice President Joe Biden made them a focus of his 2020 announcement.

Trump was asked whether he still believes there were "very fine people" on both sides of the 2017 Charlottesville protests, which drew white nationalists and neo-Nazis, one of whom injured dozens of people and killed a woman, Heather Heyer.

Trump shot back that he has already answered questions about his controversial response "perfectly" and said, "I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general." The Unite the Right rally took place ahead of Charlottesville's planned removal of a statue of the Confederate general.

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The president went on to say that Lee was a great general "whether you like it or not" and that he's heard the same from "many generals" at the White House who said he is their "favorite."

Biden in his 2020 announcement video had hit Trump for his 2017 comments that there were good people on both sides of the rally, saying the president "assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it." Brendan Morrow