Despite initial indications that he may not sign it, President Donald Trump signed an anti-white supremacists resolution into law Thursday evening, condemning the white supremacists that started a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last month.
The law, Resolution 49, cleared both the Senate and House earlier this week by unanimous votes. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who introduced the resolution in the Senate, urged the President to “send a clear message” and sign it into law after it passed in the House Tuesday.
The White House released the following statement Thursday evening announcing the President’s decision to sign it:
“S.J.Res. 49, which condemns the violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place during events between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, recognizing the first responders who lost their lives while monitoring the events, offering deepest condolences to the families and friends of those individuals who were killed and deepest sympathies and support to those individuals who were injured by the violence, expressing support for the Charlottesville community, rejecting White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups, and urging the President and the President’s Cabinet to use all available resources to address the threats posed by those groups.”
When asked about the resolution initially, a White House spokesperson told Politico they had “no announcements” about the resolution on Tuesday evening. On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the President would “absolutely” sign the resolution.
But later Thursday when speaking to reporters, Trump revisited his “many sides” rhetoric, blaming the “bad dudes” on the “other side” for the violence that broke out at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that turned deadly.
The comments and subsequent resolution come after Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) met with the President to discuss his response to the white nationalist event and explain the position that counter-protestors and members of the “antifa” group are not morally equivalent to white supremacists.
