Ivanka Trump is speaking out about the violent protests that left three people dead in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12.
The first daughter took to Twitter on Sunday, August 13, denounce the alt-right protestors who descended on the college town to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
1:2 There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 13, 2017
“There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis,” she tweeted. “We must all come together as Americans — and be one country UNITED. #Charlottesville.”
2:2 We must all come together as Americans — and be one country UNITED. #Charlottesville
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 13, 2017
Her use of the words “racism,” “white supremacy” and “neo-nazis” come as a surprise after her father, President Donald Trump, was criticized for not using those terms or denouncing the swastika-bearing protestors in his own statement on Saturday.
As Us Weekly previously reported, celebrities and other social media users called on Trump to speak out against the situation, which the governor of Virginia declared a state of emergency. The president later took to Twitter to break his silence, and then spoke to reporters without assigning blame to any particular side.
“We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!,” Trump tweeted. “Am in Bedminster for meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and are doing, to make it better-but Charlottesville sad!”
We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017
Trump told reporters in New Jersey, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country.”
The former reality TV star was called out by members of his own party, including John McCain, Marco Rubio and Orrin Hatch, on Saturday for not denouncing the perpetrators and calling the incident a domestic terror attack by white supremacists. “We must call evil by its name,” Senator Cory Gardner tweeted.
White nationalists gathered with torches and Confederate flags at the University of Virginia on Friday, August 11. The violence escalated after neo-Nazis and white nationalists started fighting with counter-protestors the next day. According to the Associated Press, one person was killed and 19 injured after 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. allegedly drove his Dodge Challenger into a group of counter-protestors on Saturday afternoon.
