Trump Defends His ‘Both Sides’ Charlottesville Remarks: I Answered ‘Perfectly’
“I was talking about people who went because they felt very strongly about the statue of Robert E. Lee.”

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
In a White House press gaggle Friday morning on the way to the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, President Donald Trump doubled down on his 2017 defense of the “very fine people on both sides” at the Charlottesville white-supremacist rally. “If you look at what I said you will see that that question was answered perfectly,” Trump said when asked for clarification on his remarks about the Unite the Right clash that left one person dead.
In his presidential bid video Thursday, former Vice President Joe Biden called out the Charlottesville violence and the president’s response to it. In another attempt to clarify those comments Friday, Trump responded: “I’ve answered that question and I was talking about people who went because they felt very strongly about the statue of Robert E. Lee. Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals.”
Trump tries to defend his Charlottesville response by praising Robert E. Lee.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 26, 2019
He claims the 'very fine people' remark was about people who "felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee. A great general, whether you like it or not."
Via Politico pic.twitter.com/01W4IwGx8y
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