Steve Mnuchin is standing by Donald Trump after 300 of his former Yale classmates urged him to resign in response to the president’s Charlottesville remarks.
The Secretary of the Treasury released a lengthy statement on Saturday to make clear he would continue to stand by Trump and ‘pursue his agenda’.
Mnuchin also insisted Trump did not support the white supremacists whose planned rally in Charlottesville, Virginia brought on a day of violence that left one dead.
‘I strongly condemn the actions of those filled with hate and with the intent to harm others,’ Mnuchin wrote.
Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin is standing by Donald Trump after 300 of his former Yale classmates urged him to resign in response to the president’s Charlottesville remarks
Mnuchin’s classmates were horrified that he stood right next to Trump as the president doubled down on his remarks that ‘many sides’ were to blame for the violence last weekend
‘They have no defense from me nor do they have any defense from the President or this administration.’
Mnuchin also referenced his Jewish heritage and said he understood the ‘long history of violence against the Jews (and other minorities)’.
‘While I find it hard to believe I should have to defend myself on this, or the President, I feel compelled to let you know that the President in no way, shape or form, believes that neo-Nazi and other hate groups who endorse violence are equivalent to groups that demonstrate in peaceful and lawful ways,’ he wrote.
Classmates from Mnuchin’s 1985 graduating class were horrified when Trump doubled down on his remarks that ‘many sides’ were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville.
During a press conference on Tuesday, which Mnuchin attended, Trump attacked the ‘alt-left’ who he claimed came ‘charging at the – as you say, the alt-right’.
But Mnuchin released a lengthy statement on Saturday to make clear he would continue to stand by Trump and ‘pursue his agenda’
Mnuchin also insisted Trump did not support the white supremacists whose planned rally in Charlottesville, Virginia brought on a day of violence that left one dead
‘Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs?’ he continued.
‘Do they have any problem? I think they do. As far as I am concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day.’
Trump’s remarks won praise with Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and was panned by political leaders from both parties.
Mnuchin’s former classmates said he had a ‘moral obligation’ to immediately resign as Secretary of the Treasury.
They said Trump’s remarks were proof that he was a ‘sympathizer with groups whose values are antithetical to those values we consider fundamental to our sacred honor as Americans, as men and women of Yale, and as decent human beings.
‘President Trump made those declarations loudly, clearly, and unequivocally, and he said them as you stood next to him,’ the letter continued.
Mnuchin featured in a recent picture that Trump made the new cover photo of his Twitter profile on Friday, just hours after firing chief strategist Steve Bannon
‘We can be Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, and a number of other things and still be friends, classmates, and patriots, but we cannot be Nazis and white supremacists.’
The letter concluded with the hope that Mnuchin would ‘resign in protest of President Trump’s support of Nazism and white supremacy’.
‘We know you are better than this, and we are counting on you to do the right thing,’ it read.
But Mnuchin retorted that Trump should be allowed to ‘propose his agenda’ without his opponents attempting to ‘distract the administration and the American people’.
‘I hope you have a better perspective on my feelings on these issues,’ he concluded.
‘I don’t believe the allegations against the President are accurate, and I believe that having highly talented men and women in our country surrounding the President in his administration should be reassuring to you and all the American people.’