Racism Is Evil: Trump Condemns White Supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazis 2 Days After Charlottesville Violence

President Donald Trump's remarks condemning violence at a white nationalist rally were meant to include the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups, the White House said on Sunday, a day after he was criticized across the political spectrum for not explicitly denouncing white supremacists.

A man rammed a car into anti-white supremacist protesters in Virginia.

U.S. authorities opened an investigation into the deadly violence in Virginia, which put renewed pressure on the Trump administration to take an unequivocal stand against right-wing extremists occupying a loyal segment of the Republican president's political base.

A 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 people were injured, five critically, on Saturday when a man plowed a car into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally in the Southern college town of Charlottesville. Another 15 people were injured in bloody street brawls between white nationalists and counter-demonstrators who fought each other with fists, rocks and pepper spray.

Two Virginia state police officers died in the crash of their helicopter after assisting in efforts to quell the unrest, which Mayor Mike Signer said was met by the presence of nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers.

Former U.S. Army enlistee James Alex Fields Jr., 20, a white Ohio man described by a former high school teacher as having been "infatuated" with Nazi ideology as a teenager, was due to be appear in court on murder and other charges stemming from the deadly car crash.

The federal "hate crime" investigation of the incident "is not limited to the driver," a U.S. Justice Department official told Reuters. "We will investigate whether others may have been involved in planning the attack."

Democrats and Republicans criticized Trump for waiting too long to address the violence - his first major crisis on the domestic front that he has faced as president - and for failing when he did speak out to explicitly condemn white-supremacist marchers who ignited the melee.

Trump on Saturday initially denounced what he called "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides."

On Sunday, however, the White House added: "The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry, and hatred, and of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi, and all extremist groups. He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together."

The statement was emailed to reporters covering Trump at his golf resort in New Jersey and attributed to an unidentified "White House spokesperson."

SOLIDARITY WITH CHARLOTTESVILLE

Memorial vigils and other events showing solidarity with Charlottesville's victims were planned across the country on Sunday to "honor all those under attack by congregating against hate," a loose coalition of civil society groups said in postings on social media.

Virginia police have not yet provided a motive for the man accused of ramming his car into the crowd. But U.S. prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have opened a civil rights investigation, FBI and Justice Department officials said.

People gather for a vigil in response to the death of a counter-demonstrator at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, outside the White House in Washington, U.S. August 13, 2017.

Derek Weimer, a history teacher at Fields' high school, told Cincinnati television station WCPO-TV that he remembered Fields harboring "some very radical views on race" as a student and was "very infatuated with the Nazis, with Adolf Hitler."

"I developed a good rapport with him and I used that rapport to constantly try to steer him away from those beliefs," Weimer recounted, adding that he recalled Fields being "gung-ho" about joining the Army when he graduated.

The Army confirmed that Fields reported for basic military training in August 2015 but was "released from active duty due to a failure to meet training standards in December of 2015." The Army statement did not explain in what way he failed to measure up.

Fields is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and a single count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, authorities said.

REPUBLICAN SENATORS CRITICIZE TRUMP'S RESPONSE

On Sunday before the White House statement, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, who chairs the Republican Party's Senate election effort, urged the president to condemn "white supremacists" and to use that term. He was one of several Republican senators who squarely criticized Trump on Twitter on Saturday.

"Calling out people for their acts of evil - let's do it today - white nationalist, white supremacist," Gardner said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday. "We will not stand for their hate."

Sunday's White House statement elaborating on Trump's initial comment on the Charlottesville clashes was followed hours later by even tougher rhetoric against white nationalists from Vice President Mike Pence, on a visit to Colombia.

"We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo Nazis or the KKK," Pence said. "These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms."

Mayor Signer, a Democrat, blamed Trump for helping foment an atmosphere conducive to violence, starting with rhetoric as a candidate for president in 2016.

"Look at the campaign he ran, Signer said on CNN's State of the Nation." "There are two words that need to be said over and over again - domestic terrorism and white supremacy. That is exactly what we saw on display this weekend."

Jason Kessler, an organizer of Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally, which was staged to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate army commander General Robert E. Lee from a park, said supporters of the event would not back down. The rally stemmed from a long debate over various public memorials and symbols honoring the pro-slavery Confederacy of the U.S. Civil War, considered an affront by African-Americans.

Kessler attempted to hold a press conference outside city hall in Charlottesville on Sunday but was quickly shouted down by counter-protesters.

Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Mike Stone in Washington, James Oliphant in New Jersey, Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Julia Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Grant McCool and Steve Gorman; Editing by Andrew Hay and Mary Milliken

Trump yields to pressure, calls neo-Nazis and KKK criminals

U.S. President Donald Trump denounced neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan as criminals and thugs on Monday, bowing to mounting political pressure to condemn such groups explicitly after a white-nationalist rally turned deadly in Virginia.

Trump had been assailed from across the political spectrum for failing to respond more forcefully to Saturday's violence in Charlottesville. The head Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N), one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, quit a presidential business panel as a result, saying he was taking a stand against intolerance and extremism.

The chief executives of two other prominent companies - sportswear manufacturer Under Armour (UAA.N) and semiconductor chip maker Intel Corp (INTC.O) - followed suit hours later.

Critics denounced Trump for waiting too long to address the bloodshed, and for initially faulting hatred and violence "on many sides," rather than singling out the white supremacists widely seen as instigating the melee.

Democrats said Trump's reaction belied a reluctance to alienate white nationalists and "alt-right" political activists who occupy a loyal segment of Trump's political base. Several senators from his own Republican Party had harsh words for him.

Some 48 hours into the biggest domestic challenge of his young presidency, Trump tried to correct course.

"Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans," the president said in a statement to reporters at the White House on Monday.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence," he said.

Three people were killed and at least 33 injured after a series of violent clashes erupted at a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. In the most extreme incident, 20-year-old white nationalist James Alex Fields plowed his car into a group of counterprotestors, killing one person, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, and injuring 19. Fields has been charged with second-degree murder, and the Department of Justice announced a civil rights investigation into the incident.

Two state troopers were also killed when their helicopter, which had been assisting with the police response to the rally, crashed outside the city later in the day.

The violent clashes in Charlottesville injured at least another 14 people beyond the car attack, and led Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency late Saturday morning. President Trump also spoke out against the violence, though not the rally, in a tweet and in an afternoon statement to reporters.

A 20-year-old man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies was arrested on charges of plowing his car into protesters opposing the white nationalists, killing 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people. The accused, James Fields, was denied bail at a court hearing on Monday.

Several others were arrested in connection with street brawls during the day that left another 15 people injured. And two airborne state troopers involved in crowd control were killed when their helicopter crashed.

Saturday's disturbances erupted after white nationalists converged in Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia's flagship campus, to protest plans for removing a statue of General Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army of the U.S. Civil War.

Trump's belated denunciation of white supremacists by name was welcomed by Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, who thanked the president for what she called "those words of comfort and for denouncing those who promote violence and hatred."

But not everyone was mollified.

"I wish that he would have said those same words on Saturday," responded Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia on MSNBC. "I'm disappointed it took him a couple of days."

A group of community leaders meeting in Charlottesville likewise said they were unimpressed by Trump's latest message.

“Why did it take criticism from his Republican buddies to move him ... to adjust the moral compass that he does not possess?” said Don Gathers, who serves as chairman for the city’s commission on monuments and memorials.

Trump lashed out at his critics late on Monday on Twitter: "Made additional remarks on Charlottesville and realize once again that the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied...truly bad people!"

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a statement on the deadly protests in Charlottesville, at the White House in Washington, U.S. August 14, 2017.

REBUKES FROM BUSINESS

Trump's revised statement on Charlottesville, following a day of silence despite a rising chorus of outrage over the violence, came after the chief executive of Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) delivered one of the more noteworthy rebukes of the president.

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, who is black, resigned from Trump's American Manufacturing Council, saying expressions of hatred and bigotry must be rejected.

Trump quickly hit back on Twitter, but made no reference to Frazier's reasons for quitting the panel, instead revisiting a longstanding gripe about expensive medicines. Frazier would have more time to focus on lowering "ripoff" drug prices, Trump tweeted.

Frazier's resignation was followed hours later by two other members of the business panel quitting in protest, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Intel chief Brian Krzanich.

"I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing," Krzanich wrote in a blog post.

The AFL-CIO organized labor federation that represents 12.5 million workers said it, too, was considering pulling its representative from the committee.

The jarring images of violence from Charlottesville and the heated public debate over racism resonated around the world, particularly in Europe where leaders are contending with a wave of xenophobia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told broadcaster Phoenix on Monday that clear and forceful action must be taken to counter right-wing extremism, and that "we have quite a lot to do at home ourselves."

About 130 people demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy in London, some with placards reading "Fascism is not to be debated, it is to be smashed," and "I am an ashamed American."

The United Nations said there must be no place in today's societies for the violent racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and discrimination on display in Charlottesville.

About 500 protesters assembled in front of the White House for a "Reject White Supremacy" rally, then marched to Trump's hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue nearby. In Manhattan, thousands of demonstrators stood outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue shouting "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."

In Durham, North Carolina, a crowd of demonstrators stormed the site of a Confederate monument outside a court and toppled the bronze statue from its base. Television news footage showed protesters taking turns stomping and kicking the fallen statue as dozens cheered.

Hundreds of miles to the north, a Holocaust memorial in Boston was vandalized, but police said they quickly arrested a 17-year-old boy who was grabbed by onlookers who saw him shatter one of the monument's glass panels with a rock.

Asked on Monday whether one side was more responsible for the violence than another in Charlottesville, Police Chief Al Thomas said: "This was an alt-right rally" - using the term that has become a banner for various far-right ideologies that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Fields appeared in a Charlottesville court on Monday by video link from the jail where he was being held on a second-degree murder charge, three counts of malicious wounding and a single count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident. His next court date was set for Aug. 25.

Several students who attended high school with Fields in Kentucky described him as an angry young man who passionately espoused white supremacist ideology.

The U.S. Justice Department was pressing its own federal investigation of the incident as a hate crime.

The Driver charged him with second-degree murder:

Authorities say they have arrested a 20-year-old Ohio man James Alex Fields Jr. and charged him with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death. He was arrested after fleeing the scene of the collision with protestors. Authorities have not identified him as the driver of the car used in the attack, but that car was registered to a man of the same name and age. Fields is being held without bail and will be arraigned on Monday.

It is not yet confirmed why Fields crashed into the protestors, but more details emerged about him over the weekend. He apparently lives in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, and the Toledo Blade reports that, according to his mother, he was in Charlottesville to attend the white-nationalist rally, though she said she didn’t know much about it. She said that she tried to “stay out of his political views,” but that he had dropped off his cat so he could go to an alt-right rally in Virginia. “I thought it had something to do with Trump,” she told the Blade. They had moved to Ohio from Kentucky last year, and James had moved out of her apartment five-to-six months ago.

Buzzfeed News additionally reports that a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Fields featured posts showing alt-right memes, making references to Nazism and white supremacy, and indicating support for President Trump. Fields was also photographed holding symbols of the Vanguard America white supremacist group on Saturday, but the group denies they had any ties to him.

Fields’s former high school history teacher told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Fields was “very bright” but also misguided and disillusioned. According to the teacher, Derek Weimer, Fields took a special interest in Nazi history and ideals:

A lot of boys get interested in the Germans and Nazis because they’re interested in World War II. But James took it to another level. He researched everything and had an intellectual argument for all his points, which is something you just don’t see that often.

There are definitely students with these kinds of thoughts and feelings … but normally if you present them with an intellectual argument, they can see both sides. But James was definitely different.

Weimar also lamented, with regards to what happened Saturday, that “I feel like I failed and that we all failed.”

Fields registered as a Republican last year and voted in both Ohio’s primary and last year’s presidential election. It also appears that Fields served in the U.S. Army for about four months in 2015, but left for reasons that are not yet clear.

The FBI announced on Saturday night that they were opening a federal civil-rights investigation into the hit-and-run.

The Victims of the Car Attack and Clashes

A 32-year-old Virginia woman, Heather Heyer, was killed in the hit-and-run. She was struck while crossing the street. She worked as a paralegal in Charlottesville, where she also lived. She came to the rally as a counterprotester on Saturday.

Friends have set up an online fundraiser at GoFundMe for her family. On that page, a statement from Heyer’s mother reads, “She died doing what was right. My heart is broken, but I am forever proud of her.”

Heyer’s mother also gave a heart-wrenching interview to HuffPost about her daughter’s activism and charity, and expressed her sorrow over whatever led her daughter’s alleged murderer to do what he did.

Her last public post on Facebook, published a few weeks after last year’s presidential election, was the quote, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

The University of Virginia Medical Center reports that another 19 people were injured when the car plowed into the crowd, including five people who were admitted to the hospital in critical condition. It is not clear if they were all counterprotestors or not, but it seems likely that most of them were. None of those victims, or any of the other injured, have been officially identified.

Fourteen more people were injured in clashes throughout the day, but little is yet known about them except that none experienced life-threatening injuries.

Two state police officers were also killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday afternoon.