Graham: Trump's Return To Blaming Both Sides Was 'A Step Backward'

Source: Talking Points Memo



By ESME CRIBB Published AUGUST 16, 2017 11:38 AM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday said President Donald Trump’s return to equivocal rhetoric on the violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was “a step backward.”

“Mr. President, I encourage you to try to bring us together as a nation after this horrific event in Charlottesville,” Graham said in a statement. “Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them.”

Graham said Trump’s remarks during an off-the-rails press conference on Tuesday suggested a “moral equivalency” between white supremacists and counter-protesters like Heather Heyer, who was killed when a car plowed into protesters.

“Through his statements yesterday, President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer,” Graham said. “I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency.”

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