Trump bows to pressure, calls neo-Nazis and KKK criminals
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US President Donald Trump denounced neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan as criminals and thugs on Monday, bowing to mounting political pressure to condemn such groups explicitly after a white-nationalist rally turned deadly in Virginia.
Trump had been assailed from across the political spectrum for failing to respond more forcefully to Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, in which a woman was killed when a man crashed his car into a group of counter-protesters.
Critics said Trump waited too long to address the bloodshed and slammed him for initially saying that "many sides" were involved, instead of singling out the white supremacists widely seen as sparking the melee.
"Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans," the president said in a statement to reporters at the White House on Monday.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence," he said.
