Former FBI Director James Comey commended President Trump for condemning white supremacy during scripted remarks but said Trump also needs to do so when not reading from a teleprompter.
“Reading words off a TelePrompTer is a good start. Now tell your next rally audience that racism and white supremacy are evil and you don’t want the support of anyone who disagrees,” Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, tweeted Monday.
Reading words off a TelePrompTer is a good start. Now tell your next rally audience that racism and white supremacy are evil and you don’t want the support of anyone who disagrees.
— James Comey (@Comey) August 5, 2019
In a New York Times op-ed published Sunday, Comey said Trump’s silence on racism and white supremacy was damaging the nation.
“Every American president, knowing what lies deep within our country, bears a unique responsibility to say loudly and consistently that white supremacy is illegitimate, that encouraging a politics of racial resentment can spawn violence, and that violence aimed at people by virtue of their skin color is terrorism,” Comey wrote.
“Mr. President, because of what you have done, you owe us more than condolences sent via Twitter. You must stop trying to unleash and exploit the radioactive energy of racism,” he continued.
Trump denounced white supremacy and racism on Monday after back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend. The suspect in El Paso reportedly posted an anti-immigrant manifesto before the shooting.
“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America,” Trump said in a speech to the nation.
[Opinion: Trump must name and condemn the evil of white nationalism]
