FALSEHOOD #28: Joe Biden falsely claimed that Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people.”

EXPLANATION: This isn’t true. During a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump condemned neo-Nazis in his speech. He did not refer to the neo-Nazis as “very fine people”.

Here’s part of the speech in question: “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.  You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures you did.  You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name… I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”

(48 Hours Later) Trump said, “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.”

SOURCES

Cortes, S. (2019, March 21). Trump didn’t call Neo-Nazis ‘fine people.’ here’s proof. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/03/21/trump_didnt_call_neo-nazis_fine_people_heres_proof_139815.html#!

Taylor, J. (2017, August 14). Trump calls out KKK, white supremacists after Charlottesville: ‘racism is evil’. NPR. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2017/08/14/543418468/trump-calls-out-kkk-white-supremacists-after-charlottesville-racism-is-evil