Dem Sen. Merkley: Trump 'Bears Responsibility' for 'Wave of Violence'

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., on Tuesday charged President Donald Trump bears some responsibility for a "wave of violence" in the U.S., CNN reported.

"You probably can't tie him directly to one particular act of violence," Merkley said after a town hall meeting in Portland, the same city where a man last week went on a racist tirade before stabbing three people, killing two, on a light rail. "But to the wave of violence, yes, he bears responsibility."

Merkley also said the president did not go far enough in condemning the stabbing and urged him to give a speech against hate crimes. The man on the train, Jeremy Joseph Christian, yelled at two African-American teenagers on board to "pay taxes" and "go home" before others stepped up to protect them.

"He told us to go back to Saudi Arabia, and he told us we shouldn't be here, to get out of his country," Destinee Mangum, one of the girls targeted in his outburst, told KPTV. "He was just telling us that we basically weren't anything and that we should just kill ourselves."

"He should call all three families, and then after calling them, he should speak to the nation," Merkley told CNN.

The senator also said Trump's presidential campaign last year "encouraged hate speech" and "divisions."

"I feel like much of what has happened with these hate crimes falls directly from who he is," Merkley said.

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