Trump: I Didn’t Condemn White Supremacism Right Away Because I Wanted All the Facts, Which Was ‘Excellent’
‘Making the Statement When I Made It, It Was Excellent’
President Donald Trump held a short press event Tuesday afternoon from Trump Tower to announce his infrastructure plans, but all the questions were about his terrible response to Saturday’s white supremacist violence and murder.Â
“When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. In fact a lot of the event didn’t even happen yet,” Trump insisted. “I don’t want to rush in to a statement. Making the statement when I made it, it was excellent.”
President Trump on the timing of his Charlottesville statements: “Making the statement when I made it was excellent” https://t.co/gED3vWa3Bn
— CNN (@CNN) August 15, 2017
“I wanted to see the facts,” Trump told reporters. “I didn’t know all of the facts,” he continued. “It was very important to me to get all the facts out.”
“I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct. Not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement.”
Trump on Charlottesville comments: “The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement.” https://t.co/6g4bqxFk0D
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 15, 2017
“There’s still things that people don’t know,” trump repeated. “I want to make a statement knowing all the facts.”
“I didn’t know David Duke was there, I wanted to see the facts,” Trump, who has no problem tweeting his smallest thoughts daily, insisted.Â
Trump on Charlottesville: “I didn’t know David Duke was there, I wanted to see the facts” before making a statement https://t.co/HeONEv9cNl
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 15, 2017
Minutes later, Trump reasserted his “on many sides” argument from Saturday that blew the nation apart, that “both sides” are to blame for the white supremacist violence and murder on Saturday.
Chuck Todd on MSNBC just called Trump’s comments “chilling,” and said he was “shell-shocked.”
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