The Republican Jewish Coalition, a group backed by billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, urged President Trump on Wednesday to “provide greater moral clarity” in denouncing hate groups, the day after he appeared to equate white supremacists with protesters opposing them.
“There are no good Nazis and no good members of the Klan. Thankfully, in modern America, the KKK and Nazis are small fringe groups that have never been welcome in the GOP,” Republican Jewish Coalition national chairman Norm Coleman, a former senator from Minnesota, and executive director Matt Brooks said in a statement.
“We join with our political and religious brethren in calling upon President Trump to provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and antisemitism,” they continued.
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In an off-the-rails news conference on Tuesday, Trump said “both sides” deserve blame for violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend during a white nationalist rally. A 32-year-old woman was killed and at least 19 others were injured when a car was driven through a crowd of counterprotesters.
The president also criticized what he called the “alt-left,” which he claimed violently confronted white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups protesting the city of Charlottesville’s decision to remove a Confederate statue from a park.
Trump’s comments prompted condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans, who accused him of equating anti-racism activists to white supremacists.
Trump’s fiery statements prompted several business and industry leaders to resign from two of the president’s economic councils. Trump announced Wednesday that he had disbanded the panels.