The president will sign a resolution legislators passed unanimously in the House and Senate this week condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump ‘looks forward’ to putting his name on the document once it lands on its desk, which should happen soon.
Trump sat down with Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, earlier this afternoon for a conversation on race relations and Charlottesville.
Scott said the Republican president ceded his ‘moral authority’ after the race riot when he claimed that their were ‘fine people on both sides’ of the clash at a white nationalist rally that left one protester dead.
President Trump sat down with Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, earlier this afternoon for a conversation on race relations and Charlottesville
Trump later said that ‘many sides’ were responsible for the violence at the rally, angering Republicans and Democrats in the national spotlight.
Rather than apologize for his comments, Trump doubled down at a campaign rally, where he contended that he’d forcefully denounced racial hatred and the media was cherry-picking his statements.
‘We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,’ Trump initially said. ‘It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.’
Trump did not mention white supremacists at all in his remarks, causing an uproar.
Asked today whether Trump feels, after speaking with Scott, that he should have more boldly condemned white nationalism, Sanders said the president has nothing to be sorry for.
‘The President was clear in his initial statement that he condemned hatred, bigotry, racism of all forms. He continues to stick to that message. He’s been very consistent in that fact. He and the Senator talked about that and discussed that, and agreed that that was the appropriate place to be,’ she said.
In an appearance on CBS Sunday show Face the Nation just after the attack, Scott had said, ‘It’s going to be very difficult for this president to lead if, in fact, his moral authority remains compromised.’
He declined to criticize Trump further when he spoke to reporters after his visit with the president at the White House today.
‘I think I was clear before we met and I was clear while we met,’ the South Carolina senator told USA Today, leaving his disagreement with Trump the past.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said during her daily briefing that Trump and Scott spoke about ‘potential solutions moving forward to bring the country together’
Scott said of the conversation, ‘We discussed everything from legislative remedies for those living in poverty, to the incident in Charlottesville, to some of the other issues that are important — diversifying staff.’
An official White House readout of the meeting said they talked about the Trump administration’s ‘relationship with the African American community, the bipartisan issue of improving race relations, and creating a more unified country.
‘President Trump remains committed to positive race relations and looks forward to continuing the dialogue with Senator Scott, the African American community, and leaders from diverse communities across the country, all of which have a wealth of perspectives and experiences with respect to this issue.’
Sanders said during her daily briefing that Trump and Scott spoke about ‘potential solutions moving forward to bring the country together.’
Scott was ‘not at all’ fixated on his displeasure with the president’s Charlottesville comments, she said.
‘They talked about it pretty in depth, but the focus was primarily on solutions moving forward,’ she stated. ‘And that was what both people came to the meeting wanting to discuss, is what we can do to bring people together, not talk about divisions within the country.’
Democrats on Capitol Hill had pushed last month for an official censure of the president over his Charlottesville remarks. Republicans agreed to a resolution blasting white nationalist groups.
The legislation cleared the Senate on Monday and the House on Tuesday and heads to Trump now.
In the bipartisan statement, that assault that took Heather Heyer’s life is pointedly referred to as a ‘domestic terrorist attack.’ The KKK and neo-Nazis are also called out.
Lawmakers ask Trump personally to ‘speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy’ in the declaration.
They also call on him to use ‘all resources available’ to ‘address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States.’