Kellyanne Conway defends Trump's Charlottesville remarks: 'That is darn near perfection'
Nicholas WuWASHINGTON – White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defended President Donald Trump's recent remarks about Charlottesville on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning, telling host Jake Tapper, "When President Trump condemned racism, bigotry evil violence, and then took it many steps further, and called out neo-Nazis, white supremacists, KKK, that was darn near perfection."
Conway's comments came in response to Tapper's question asking whether Trump's recent remarks on Charlottesville were "perfect."
"When you're calling out KKK, neo-Nazis, and you're saying, there were people there who hadn't signed up for that," she said.
Tapper and Conway sparred over the issue throughout the segment.
"According to Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, Cory Gardner, Gary Cohn, his response was not unequivocal...these loyal supporters of the president did not think his response on Charlottesville was perfect," responded Tapper.
Charlottesville:Trump defends response to Charlottesville violence, says he put it 'perfectly' with 'both sides' remark
Last Friday, Trump doubled down on his controversial remarks about 2017's violence in Charlottesville, telling reporters, "If you look at what I said, you will see that that question was answered perfectly. I was talking about people who went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general."
Following the "Unite the Right" rally in 2017, Trump had initially said that there were fine people on "both sides" of the rally, comments that drew bipartisan condemnation at the time.
Trump brought up Charlottesville as former Vice President Joe Biden had chosen to make themes from Charlottesville central to his 2020 campaign announcement.
In a video released last Thursday by the Biden campaign, the former vice president said, "Trump stunned the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were ‘some very fine people on both sides.’ Very fine people on both sides?"
Trump's resurfacing of the issue drew criticism from other political leaders. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning, I think he's expressing what's in his heart."