US Secretary of State says Trump ‘speaks for himself’
Questioned about Donald Trump’s controversial response to terrorism by a neo-Nazi sympathizer in Charlottesville, Virginia, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the president “speaks for himself.”
The former ExxonMobil CEO appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to highlight “American values” but dismiss Trump’s condemnation of “both” sides of the attack.
“I don’t believe anyone doubts the American people’s values,” Tillerson said. “And the President’s values?” anchor Chris Wallace asked. “The President speaks for himself,” Tillerson said.
The president has been under fire due to his failure to immediately condemn the recent tragedy in Charlottesville, in which a driver plowed into demonstrators protesting against white supremacists, killing a young woman and injuring nearly 20 others.
Instead, he has blamed “both” and “many” sides for the clashes that took place on August 13. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and some 20 others were injured. A 20-year-old, identified as James Alex Fields Jr, was said to have been behind the wheel. Tillerson is not the only figure to avoid getting engaged in Trump’s stance on Charlottesville. The president has also faced a raft of resignations from his advisory councils and talks about resignation of other White House officials.
US leaders have also been censured by the United Nations for their mild stance on racism and white supremacy. “We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred,” said Anastasia Crickley, the chairperson of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in a news release last week.
Culled from Presstv