‘I Have Not and Now I Will Not’: Heather Heyer’s Mother Susan Bro Refuses to Talk to Trump (Video)
‘You Can’t Wash This One Away by Shaking My Hand and Saying I’m Sorry. I’m Not Forgiving for That’
Susan Bro, the mother of the woman who was murdered last Saturday as she was protesting a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally, now says she will not talk to President Trump. Heather Heyer was just 32-years old when a white supremacist allegedly plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protestors in Charlottesville, killing her and injuring 19 others.Â
Bro, unlike the president, has inspired the nation by saying she refuses to add to the hate that killed her child. She has urged people to act individually by fighting the feelings of not wanting to get involved when they see injustice, and instead, to act.Â
The White House has been blasted by some when it was revealed Trump had not bothered to call Bro to express his condolences. Bro acknowledged that recently the White House has tried several times but she just has not been home.Â
Bro has appeared on a few news programs and been exceptionally non-partisan, actively working to ensure her daughter’s death becomes a catalyst for good. She has made clear she would be open to talking to President Trump if he would in some way help advance her cause of carrying out her daughter’s activism.
But on Friday morning, that changed.
Asked by ABC News’ Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” if she has talked directly with the president, Bro calmly responded, “I have not and now I will not.”
“Have you talked to [Pres. Trump] directly yet?” – @RobinRoberts
“I have not and now I will not.” – Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer pic.twitter.com/TlqplPyi3J
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 18, 2017
“At first, I just missed his calls. The first call looked like it came during the funeral,” which was Wednesday, days after Heyer was murdered.Â
She noted there were another three “frantic messages from press secretaries” but she had been busy working to establish a foundation with the donations that have been coming in.
“I hadn’t really watched the news until last night,” Bro told Roberts.
“And,” she said, warily, “I’m not talking to the president now. I’m sorry, after what he said about my child. It’s not that I saw somebody else’s tweets about him. I saw an actual clip of him at a press conference equating the protesters, like Ms. Heyer, with the KKK and the white supremacists.”
Roberts mentioned that Bro had thanked President Trump after the remarks he made on Monday, specifically denouncing white supremacists and the KKK.
But she said that Trump apportioning blame to “both sides” in his Tuesday remarks at a press event “absolutely” changed her mind about speaking to him.
“You can’t wash this one away by shaking my hand and saying ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m not forgiving for that.”
On Tuesday, Trump unleashed his anger and frustration in an off-the-rails Q&A with reporters.
“You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent,†Trump said, cementing his “both sides” argument.
“I think there’s blame on both sides and I have no doubt about it,” he told reporters.
Trump’s remarks Tuesday have caused top CEOs to quit his business councils, charities to cancel scheduled fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, and overwhelming denouncements from congressional lawmakers and politicians on “both sides” of the aisle.
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