Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday across all major television networks he expects President Trump to denounce specific white nationalist groups, after being criticized for issuing a general statement condemning “hatred.”
“I think he probably will,” Sessions said on ABC after he was asked whether Trump would condemn the racist groups involved in a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday.
Sessions also defended Trump’s initial statement. “Well, he said that yesterday as a spokesman did,” Sessions said. “His initial statement on this roundly and unequivocally condemned hatred and violence and bigotry.”
Trump has been criticized for issuing a statement through an unnamed White House official and not personally rebuking the groups involved in Saturday’s rally when speaking during a veteran’s event just hours after the deadly attack.
Sessions said he will meet with Trump later today and believes the president will give a more thorough statement.
“The initial statement he gave was just within a few hours of the event occurring and I believe it was very strong and a clear condemnation of racial bigotry and hatred. And white supremacy certainly was included in bigotry and hatred,” Sessions said. “So I think the president will be there. He is a strong leader. He is an outspoken leader. He expresses himself in clear and blunt terms.”
The Saturday incident in which a 20-year-old man drove a car into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., could be prosecuted as domestic terrorism, Sessions added.
The Justice Department announced Sunday that it is investigating if others were also part of the deadly car attack.
“It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute,” Sessions said. “We are pursuing it in the [Department of Justice] in every way that we can make a case … You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation towards the most serious charges that can be brought because this is unequivocally an unacceptable evil attack.”
When asked on CBS if it’s wrong to make a “moral equivalence” between the two groups of protesters on Saturday, Sessions said, “Absolutely.”
“This individual had no right to drive a car into them,” he said. “This is absolute unacceptable.”
Sessions added that the president has directed the Justice Department and the FBI “to get after it.”
“Justice will be done. We’re coming after these people,” he said.
Sessions said that Trump’s initial reaction to the attack was “strong.”
“I thought that was strong. I think we’re making too much out of it,” Sessions said, adding that “absolutely,” the president today needs to specifically condemn neo-Nazis and white supremacists — and that he thinks he will do so.
“Well, [Trump] made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of hatred, violence, bigotry, racism, white supremacy — those things must be condemned in this country,” Sessions told NBC’s Today Show in another interview. “They’re totally unacceptable, and you can be sure that this Department of Justice, in his administration, is going to take the most vigorous action to protect the right of people, like Heather Hyer, to protest against racism and bigotry.”
Heather Hyer, a 32-year-old woman, was killed and 19 others were injured by the car attack.
