Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo defended President Donald Trump's statement that "both sides" were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.
"The idea that you cannot acknowledge the fact that the other side, Antifa, was also charging at the supremacists with clubs. Can we not just have an honest conversation about that as well," she said on "Mornings With Maria," according to Mediaite, though she added that this is "not the time."
Bartiromo also defended Trump on Tuesday, praising the press conference in which he made the remark.
Trump said Tuesday, "I think there is blame to project on both sides."
"I have no doubt about it. You don't have doubt about it, either," he continued. "If you reported it accurately, you would say that."
Trump added that there were "some very fine people on both sides," though he later stated that he wasn't "talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists" when he said that.
On Fox News Wednesday, pollster Lee Carter offered her insight on why Trump's comment sparked outrage.
"I think that the problem is right now that when you've got a leaking bucket, you've gotta plug the leak. The leaking bucket right now is racism. The leaking bucket right now is white supremacism."
She continued, "It matters that you are addressing the value that you are primarily offending. The most offensive thing that is happening right now is people are being judged by the color of their skin, their religion and saying you are not good enough and that is not America. That is not what the Declaration of Independence is about, that is not why we fought the Revolutionary War . . . that's not why our grandparents fought World War II."
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