WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed his widely condemned claim that people protesting white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last month shared equal blame for the violence with the neo-Nazi groups who rallied there against the town's removal of a Confederate statue.
There are some "pretty bad dudes on the other side also," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, referring to anti-fascist demonstrators that faced off with white supremacists.
Trump's revival of the controversy was all the more surprising given his context: He was describing his meeting at the White House on Wednesday with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's only black Republican, who confronted Trump about his post-Charlottesville remarks.
Scott, recounting his remarks to the president, said he disputed any such comparison equating neo-Nazis and anti-racism protesters and reviewed the brutal history of the white supremacist movement in the United States.
Scott's message didn't seem to have sunk in with the president, who mentioned to reporters a violent group of anti-fascists known as "Antifa."
"Especially in light of the advent of Antifa, if you look at what's going on there, you know, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also," Trump said.
He added, "You look at really what's happened since Charlottesville _ a lot of people are saying, in fact a lot of people have actually written, 'Gee, Trump might have point.'"
Not Scott.
He reacted to Trump's latest remarks on Charlottesville by rebuking the president in a prepared statement: "Antifa is bad and should be condemned, yes, but white supremacists have been killing and tormenting black Americans for centuries. There's no realistic comparison. Period."
After the Aug. 11-12 protests in Charlottesville, Trump's statements shifted widely between suggesting a moral equivalency between both sides and belatedly condemning the neo-Nazis, who marched through Charlottesville with torches and assault rifles. One anti-racism protestor was killed and 19 injured when a car driven by an alleged white supremacist plowed into a crowd of the counterprotesters.
Trump said he had a "great talk" with Scott, who also urged him to add high-ranking African-Americans to his staff.
The White House released a photo of the two men talking in the Oval Office, but its statement mistakenly identified the senator as "Tom" _ prompting much derision in social media.
