Vice News Reporter Contradicts Trump’s Claim That Charlottesville Rally Was About A Statue
- 7 years ago
The 'Vice News Tonight' correspondent who was at the recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was featured in a documentary about the event has contradicted President Trump’s claim that the gathering was largely intended to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.
The 'Vice News Tonight' correspondent who was at the recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was featured in a documentary about the event has contradicted President Trump’s claim that the gathering was largely intended to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.
During an appearance on CBS News’ 'Face the Nation' Sunday, reporter Elle Reeve talked about how well-organized the event was and then said, “...once they started marching, they didn’t talk about Robert E. Lee being a brilliant military tactician. They chanted about Jews. They wanted to be menacing. It’s not an accident.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Trump appeared to defend the rally, saying, “Not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee.”
He added, “So, this week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson's coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?...take a look the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.”
In fact, rally organizer Jason Kessler had told the Associated Press, or AP, that he had initially been motivated by the statue’s removal but later said the event was “about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do.”
The AP also reported that “those in the crowd included Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads and members of various white nationalist factions. Many were heavily armed. Some flew Nazi flags. They hurled racial slurs at counter-demonstrators and gave Nazi salutes.”
Reeve had previously commented on her observations from the event on CNN; she told Anderson Cooper, “Everyone who was there knew what they were doing. They were shouting 'Jews will not replace us!' It was very well coordinated, they had an order to the chants. Like, there was no mistaking, there was no innocent person wandering up and accidentally getting involved in this.”
The 'Vice News Tonight' correspondent who was at the recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was featured in a documentary about the event has contradicted President Trump’s claim that the gathering was largely intended to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.
During an appearance on CBS News’ 'Face the Nation' Sunday, reporter Elle Reeve talked about how well-organized the event was and then said, “...once they started marching, they didn’t talk about Robert E. Lee being a brilliant military tactician. They chanted about Jews. They wanted to be menacing. It’s not an accident.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Trump appeared to defend the rally, saying, “Not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee.”
He added, “So, this week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson's coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?...take a look the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.”
In fact, rally organizer Jason Kessler had told the Associated Press, or AP, that he had initially been motivated by the statue’s removal but later said the event was “about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do.”
The AP also reported that “those in the crowd included Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads and members of various white nationalist factions. Many were heavily armed. Some flew Nazi flags. They hurled racial slurs at counter-demonstrators and gave Nazi salutes.”
Reeve had previously commented on her observations from the event on CNN; she told Anderson Cooper, “Everyone who was there knew what they were doing. They were shouting 'Jews will not replace us!' It was very well coordinated, they had an order to the chants. Like, there was no mistaking, there was no innocent person wandering up and accidentally getting involved in this.”