NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Defi ant Trump insists anew: Blame both sides
NEW YORK (AP) —
Combative and insistent,
President Donald Trump
declared anew Tuesday
“there is blame on both sides”
for the deadly violence last
weekend in Charlottesville,
Virginia, appearing to once
again equate the actions of
white supremacist groups
and those protesting them.
He showed sympathy for
the fringe groups’ efforts to
preserve Confederate monu-
ments.
The
president’s
comments effectively wiped
away the more conventional
statement he delivered at the
White House a day earlier
when he branded members
of the KKK, neo-Nazis and
white supremacists who take
part in violence as “crimi-
nals and thugs.”
Trump’s advisers had
hoped those remarks might
quell a crush of criticism
from Republicans, Demo-
crats and business leaders.
But the president’s retorts
Tuesday suggested he had
been a reluctant participant
in that cleanup effort and
renewed questions about
why he seems to struggle
to unequivocally condemn
white nationalists.
The blowback was swift,
including
from
fellow
Republicans. Sen. Marco
Rubio of Florida said Trump
should not allow white
supremacists “to share only
part of the blame.” House
Speaker Paul Ryan declared
in a tweet that “white
supremacy is repulsive” and
there should be “no moral
ambiguity,” though he did
not specifi cally address the
president.
Trump’s remarks were
welcomed by former Ku
Klux Klan leader David
Duke, who tweeted, “Thank
you President Trump for
your honesty & courage to
tell the truth.”
Violence
broke
out
Saturday in Charlottesville,
a picturesque college town,
after a loosely connected
mix of white nationalists,
neo-Nazis and other far-right
extremists assembled to
protest the city’s decision
to remove a towering statue
of Confederate Gen. Robert
E. Lee. Heather Heyer,
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday.
“As a Jew, as an
American, as a
human, words
cannot express
my disgust and
disappointment.”
— Sen. Brian Schatz,
Democrat, Hawaii
32, was killed when a man
plowed his car into a crowd
of counter-protesters.
In the immediate after-
math, Trump placed the
blame on “many sides.”
On Monday, at the urging
of his aides, he delivered a
more direct condemnation
of white supremacists.
But he returned to his
original arguments Tuesday
during an impromptu press
conference in the lobby of
his Manhattan skyscraper,
declaring “there are two
sides to a story.”
He acknowledged there
were “some very bad
people” looking for trouble
in the group protesting plans
to remove the statue. “But
you also had people that
were very fi ne people, on
both sides,” he said.
Trump sided with those
seeking to maintain the
monument to Lee, equating
him with some of the
nation’s founders who also
owned slaves. Confederate
monuments have become
rallying points for supporters
of both preserving and
toppling them.
“So, this week it’s Robert
E. Lee,” he said. “I noticed
that Stonewall Jackson’s
coming down.” I wonder,
is it George Washington
next week and is it Thomas
Jefferson the week after?
You really do have to ask
yourself where does it stop?”
He continued: “You’re
changing history. You’re
changing culture.”
The president’s comments
mirrored rhetoric from
the far-right fringe. A post
Monday by the publisher
of The Daily Stormer, a
notorious neo-Nazi website,
predicted that protesters are
going to demand that the
“Thank you
President
Trump for your
honesty &
courage to tell
the truth.”
— David Duke, Former
leader of the Ku Klux Klan
Washington Monument be
torn down.
Trump’s handling of
the weekend violence has
raised new and troubling
questions, even among some
supporters. Members of
his own Republican Party
have pressured him to be
more vigorous in criticizing
bigoted groups, and busi-
ness leaders have begun
abandoning a White House
jobs panel in response to his
comments.
White House offi cials
were caught off guard by
his remarks Tuesday. He
had signed off on a plan
to not answer questions
- EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY -
Administrative Support / Inside Sales
Iranian president
threatens to
revitalize country’s
nuclear program
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)
— Iran’s president warned
Tuesday that it could ramp
up its nuclear program
and quickly achieve a
more advanced level if the
U.S. continues “threats
and sanctions” against his
country, which signed a
landmark nuclear accord
with world powers in 2015.
Hassan
Rouhani’s
remarks to lawmakers were
his most direct warning
that the deal could fall apart
and risked ratcheting up
tensions with the United
States. President Donald
Trump has repeatedly said he
wants to scuttle the accord,
which limited Iran’s ability
to produce a nuclear weapon
while ending most sanctions
against it.
Nikki Haley, the U.S.
ambassador to the United
Nations, said late Tuesday:
“The nuclear deal must not
become ‘too big to fail.’”
Earlier this week, Iran’s
parliament voted to increase
spending on the country’s
ballistic missile program
and the foreign operations
of
its
paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard. The
move came in response
to U.S. legislation passed
earlier this month imposing
mandatory penalties on
people involved in Iran’s
ballistic missile program
and anyone who does
business with them. The
U.S. legislation also applies
terrorism sanctions to the
Guard and enforces an
existing arms embargo.
If Washington continues
with “threats and sanctions”
against Iran, Tehran could
easily step up its nuclear
activities, Rouhani said in
parliament Tuesday.
“In an hour and a day,
Iran could return to a more
advanced (nuclear) level
than at the beginning of the
negotiations” that preceded
the 2015 deal, Rouhani said.
from journalists during an
event touting infrastructure
policies, according to a
White House offi cial not
authorized to speak publicly
about a private discussion.
Once behind the lectern
and facing the cameras, he
overruled the decision.
As Trump talked, his
aides on the sidelines in the
lobby stood in silence. Chief
of staff John Kelly crossed
his arms and stared down at
his shoes, barely glancing at
the president. Press secretary
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
looked around the room
trying to make eye contact
with other senior aides. One
young staffer stood with her
mouth agape.
Kelly
was
brought
into the White House less
than a month ago to try to
bring order and stability
to a chaotic West Wing.
Some Trump allies hoped
the retired Marine general
might be able to succeed
where others have failed:
controlling some of Trump’s
impulses. But the president’s
improvisations on Tuesday
once against underscored
that he cannot be controlled
by his advisers.
Democrats were aghast at
Trump’s comments. Virginia
Sen. Tim Kaine said on
Twitter that the Charlottes-
ville violence “was fueled
by one side: white suprem-
acists spreading racism,
intolerance & intimidation.
Those are the facts.” Sen.
Brian Schatz of Hawaii
said on Twitter that he no
longer views Trump as his
president.
“As a Jew, as an Amer-
ican, as a human, words
cannot express my disgust
and disappointment,” Schatz
said. “This is not my presi-
dent.”
When asked to explain
his Saturday comments
about Charlottesville, Trump
looked down at his notes
and again read a section of
his initial statement that
denounced bigotry but did
not single out white suprem-
acists. He then tucked the
paper back into his jacket
pocket.
Trump, who has quickly
deemed other deadly inci-
dents in the U.S. and around
the world acts of terrorism,
waffl ed when asked whether
the car death was a terrorist
attack.
“There is a question. Is
it murder? Is it terrorism?”
Trump said. “And then you
get into legal semantics.
The driver of the car is a
murderer and what he did
was a horrible, horrible,
inexcusable thing.”
Trump said he had yet
to call Heyer’s mother but
would soon “reach out.” He
praised her for what he said
was a nice statement about
him on social media.
As he fi nally walked
away from his lectern, he
stopped to answer one more
shouted question: Would he
visit Charlottesville? The
president’s response was to
note that he owned property
there and to say — inaccu-
rately — that it was one of
the largest wineries in the
United States.
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