Trump says he knows people who 'like the Confederate flag' and aren't 'thinking about slavery'

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

last updated 14 July 2020

President Trump continued to stir controversy about the Confederate battle flag Tuesday during an interview with CBS News' Catherine Herridge.

Herridge asked Trump if he still believes, as he said in 2015, that the flag should be removed from public spaces and placed in museums. The president didn't explicitly answer the question, but he said the only thing he really cares about his "freedom of speech," implying that he thinks people should be allowed to leave it up.

When Herridge reminded him the flag is a "painful reminder" for many people because the Confederacy rebelled against the United States to preserve slavery, Trump said he knows people who "like the Confederate flag" but are not "thinking about slavery" before once again turning the conversation back to the First Amendment. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.