Engel Blasts President’s Press Conference Remarks

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel issued the following statement on yesterday’s remarks by the President at a press conference in Trump Tower:

“Everything about yesterday’s press conference was wrong. The way the President backtracked and blamed ‘both sides’ for the Charlottesville nightmare was wrong; the way he defended some of the people who stood with white supremacists was wrong; and the way he has continually glossed over the despicable beliefs held by these hate-filled men and women of the alt-right was, and continues to be, wrong. The President said again yesterday there were good people ‘on both sides,’ but let’s be clear: If you marched alongside a white supremacist you are not a good person. Anyone who would stand shoulder to shoulder with racists and anti-Semites either shares or is sympathetic to their beliefs. There were no ‘good people’ carrying tiki torches screaming Nazi slogans. It’s 2017. These obvious truths should not have to be stated or clarified to anyone, let alone the President of the United States. This is not difficult to understand, and is certainly not up for debate. When David Duke praises you, you are doing something wrong.

“Yesterday’s press conference was a disgrace to the office of the President and to the American people. It was an affront to our American values.”