Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview that aired Monday morning, insisted the Trump administration will "not tolerate hatred and violence of groups like white supremacists, the KKK and neo-Nazis," but at the same time criticized the media for spending more time criticizing the president than covering the violence in Charlottesville.
"I think the American people heard the president yesterday, speak plainly and condemn, in his words, in the strongest possible terms, organizations that purvey hate and violence," Pence told NBC'S Peter Alexander during the interview, conducted in Colombia.
President Donald Trump has been widely criticized for his initial statements following the Charlottesville protests, and after 20-year-old white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. was arrested after ramming his car into a crowd of protesters, killing one and injuring 19 more.
In his comments, the president decried racism and violence on "all sides," without naming specifically the white supremacists, KKK, or neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville Friday and who fought with counter protesters Saturday.
Pence also told Alexander that he does take issue with the media and its response to the crisis, saying that "many in the media are spending more time criticizing how the president addressed the issue yesterday" after the reporter pointed out that key Republicans such as Sens. Orrin Hatch and Cory Gardner have criticized the president.
"But this is Orrin Hatch and Cory Gardner sir, it's not me, I'm reading their quotes" Alexander told the vice president.
"Well many in the media have spent an awful lot of time focusing on what the president said and criticisms of what the president's said instead of criticizing those who brought that hatred and violence to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia," Pence said.
Pence also told Alexander that the Trump administration will "bring the full weight of the government" into investigating Fields for the "heinous act that took the life of that innocent woman."
During a news conference on Sunday with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Pence noted that Santos' son recently graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
"What happened yesterday in Charlottesville was a tragedy," he said then. "It did not represent that community, and it didn't represent the United States."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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