LOYAL

Pence Slams Press for Criticizing Trump’s Response to Charlottesville

Urges reporters to focus on “extremist groups” perpetrating violence instead of Trump.

Vice President Mike Pence stood up for President Trump on Sunday night amid a torrent of criticism of the president’s response to recent violence in Charlottesville. With many questioning why the president did not explicitly condemn white supremacists after Saturday’s “pro-white” rally ended in bloodshed, Pence defended Trump’s remarks on the incident as “sincere” and “from the heart.” “President Trump clearly and unambiguously condemned the bigotry, violence, and hatred which took place on the streets of Charlottesville,” he said during a visit to Colombia. “I will say I take issue with the fact that many in the national media spent more time criticizing the president’s words than they did criticizing those that perpetrated the violence to begin with,” he said. “We should be putting the attention where it belongs,” he said, denouncing “extremist groups” and stressing that the White House has “no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo-Nazis, or the KKK.”