Former Vice President Joe Biden wrongly claimed President Donald Trump has “yet once to condemn white supremacy, the neo-Nazis.” Trump has specifically condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis on a few occasions.
In this fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org examine the comments that President Donald Trump made to supporters in Arizona about the violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Q: Did President Donald Trump defend a Confederate flag he hung in the White House?
A: No. That was written by a website that “provides a satirical view of current events.”
Q: Is a Craigslist ad proof that counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally were “paid to make chaos”?
A: No. The ad called for “actors and photographers” in Charlotte, North Carolina, not Charlottesville, Virginia, where the rally took place.
The president revises history, exaggerates accomplishments and makes false claims.
Q: Were the police in Charlottesville, Virginia, told to “stand down” to allow the violent clashes that occurred on Aug. 12?
A: The police chief, mayor and city spokeswoman say there is no truth to that claim. Others have criticized what they describe as slow police action.
Q: Is the man who drove his car into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, a Hillary Clinton supporter, and funded by George Soros?
A: There is no evidence to support either claim. In fact, the driver is a registered Republican, and his former teacher said he supported Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.
Q: Does a video corroborate a belief by Charlottesville police officers that the driver in the fatal car attack at a white nationalist rally “was not acting maliciously”?
A: No. Police have charged James Alex Fields Jr. with multiple offenses, including second-degree murder and “aggravated malicious wounding.”
Q: Did the man who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, meet with former President Obama in the White House?
A: No. A satirical website confuses the driver with the organizer of the rally, who is rumored to have been a past Obama supporter.
President Trump answered critics who said he waited too long to condemn the white nationalists who staged a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned violent. We put into context some of his statements.