GOP convention fact-check: Yes, Trump called white supremacists 'very fine people'

A speaker at the Republican National Convention tried to rewrite history Wednesday, falsely claiming that Donald Trump never called the white supremacists who rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 “very fine people.”

“Are you going to allow the media to lie to you by falsely claiming that he said there were ‘very fine white supremacists’ in Charlottesville? He didn’t say that. It’s a lie,” said Jack Brewer, a member of Black Voices for Trump who was charged earlier this month with insider trading.

Trump very much did call the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville — one of whom ran over an anti-racism protester and killed her — “very fine people.”

Here is a transcript from the time:

REPORTER: You said there was hatred and violence on both sides?

 

TRUMP: I do think there is blame – yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at, you look at both sides. I think there’s blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either. And, and, and, and if you reported it accurately, you would say.

 

REPORTER: The neo-Nazis started this thing. They showed up in Charlottesville.

 

TRUMP: Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.

Trump has faced criticism for the comment for years and has tried to defend his comment.

“If you look at what I said, you will see that that question was answered perfectly,” Trump said in 2019.

Trump supporters, including Wednesday’s convention speaker, have insisted he did not actually say what he said, despite video evidence.

MSNBC even broke into the convention programming to fact-check Brewer’s lie.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.