Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden confronted a journalist from Breitbart News over President Trump’s response to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, two years ago.
At the Iowa State Fair on Thursday, Biden walked into a scrum of reporters. Joel Pollak, Breitbart News senior editor-at-large, told the former vice president that he misquoted Trump, because the president condemned white supremacists after the violent clashes in Charlottesville.
“No, he did not,” Biden said, raising his voice and pointing his index finger in Pollak’s face. “He walked out, and he said — let’s get this straight — he said there were very fine people in both groups. They are chanting anti-Semitic slogans, carrying flags,” he added before walking away and ignoring Pollak’s follow-up.
Up close confrontation at the Iowa state fair:this man accuses @JoeBiden of misquoting @realDonaldTrump on white supremacists — and Biden tears into him. pic.twitter.com/2ycHT869jP
— Natasha Korecki (@natashakorecki) August 8, 2019
Trump faced bipartisan backlash for saying during a press conference following the August 2017 Charlottesville rally that there were “fine people on both sides.” Thirty-two-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a self-avowed white supremacist rammed his car into a group of counterprotesters.
Trump clarified his statement during that same press conference, saying, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the White nationalists, because they should be condemned totally,” but his repeated insistence on putting blame gave critics continuing fodder to work with.
Trump is under fresh scrutiny for his behavior while visiting El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, after two mass shootings over the weekend left at least 31 people dead. Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Democratic elected officials and the media who suggested his rhetoric as president contributed to the violence.
Biden is the most prominent figure castigating the president.
“How far is it from the white supremacists and Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville — Trump’s ‘very fine people’ — chanting ‘You will not replace us’ — to the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying Jews ‘were committing genocide to his people?’ Not far at all. In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation,” Biden said during a speech Wednesday in Burlington, Iowa.
