Sessions defends Orangutan racism...

Sessions defends Trump rhetoric on Charlottesville

By JOSH GERSTEIN

In a series of television interviews Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended President Donald Trump against a wave of criticism over his failure to condemn white nationalists involved in staging a rally in Virginia Saturday that led to the death of woman opposing the protest.

While lawmakers from both parties have faulted Trump for saying that "many sides" were responsible for the violence, Sessions—who has been on the receiving end of a flurry of unusual public attacks from the president in recent months—insisted that the president had unequivocally denounced the ideology of racist groups.

The attorney general also characterized the deadly incident in Charlottesville as "domestic terrorism."

"His initial statement on this roundly and unequivocally condemned hatred and violence and bigotry," Sessions said of Trump on ABC's "Good Morning America." "White supremacy was certainly included in bigotry and hatred."

Pressed on Trump's omission of any reference to such groups as neo-Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan, the attorney general said: "Too much has been read into that....He totally opposes those kinds of values."

Speaking on NBC's "Today," Sessions said Trump's initial reaction was forceful, although the attorney general noted the president's comments came just a few hours after the deadly incident.

"He made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of hatred, violence, bigotry, racism and white supremacy," Sessions said. "Those things must be condemned. They're totally unacceptable ... He's been firm on this from the beginning. He is appalled by this."

Sessions was vague about when Trump might publicly speak on the subject again, saying on ABC that such comments could come soon and "maybe today."

When asked to clarify whom Trump was referring to when he blamed "many sides" for Saturday's events, Sessions said the president was referring to the history of outbreaks of violence in the U.S.

"We’ve have violence around the country in any number of ways over decades. We’ve had these spasms of violence that are unacceptable in America," the attorney general told NBC. "He did say he wasn’t just talking about Donald Trump or Barack Obama he said these problems have been going on for a long time ... I thought it was a pretty — it was a good statement delivered just after the event."

Despite his defense of Trump, Sessions appeared to use stronger rhetoric than the president in castigating the ideology behind Saturday's deadly encounter. At a couple of points, the attorney general referred to the inspiration behind the events as "evil."

"It does appear that, amazingly, Nazism remains alive, after all the evil it has caused in the world," Sessions said.

Sessions announced in a written statement Saturday night that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office for Western Virginia were opening an investigation into the events that took place in Charlottesville earlier that day, including the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

The attorney general and FBI Director Christopher Wray are planning to brief the president later Monday morning on the probe, White House and Justice Department officials said.

"The president has directed us to get after it," Sessions said on "CBS This Morning." "Justice will be done. We're coming after these people. It cannot be tolerated in America."

The attorney general added that he believes the incident "does meet the definition of domestic terrorism."

Heyer, a paralegal and bartender taking part in a counter-protest to a white nationalist rally, was killed in a chain-reaction car crash on a Charlottesville street. At least 19 other people were injured.

Video and photos taken at the scene of the shows a dark Dodge Challenger careening down a street plowing into another vehicle amid a throng of demonstrators as pedestrians dive out of the way. The car then backs up wildly as people in the area try to run to safety.

The car was registered to James Alex Fields Jr. , 20, of Maumee, Ohio, who was arrested and charged by local prosecutors. with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death.

The federal investigation will parallel the local law enforcement effort and will consider whether federal hate crimes charges should be filed, a Justice Department official said Sunday.

The Justice Department inquiry will also look at whether people other than Fields, whom a former teacher reportedly described as a Nazi sympathizer, had involvement in what police alleged was a deliberate attack.

"The investigation is not limited to the driver. We will investigate whether others may have been involved in planning the attack," a Justice official said Sunday. "Federal charging decisions have not yet been made, as we are still gathering evidence in this matter to determine whether federal hate crime charges are applicable."

While the Justice Department insisted no decisions have been made about a federal prosecution, Vice President Mike Pence suggested in an interview Sunday night that such a prosecution of Fields was imminent or underway.

"We’re bringing the full weight of the federal government to bear on investigating and prosecuting that individual for that heinous act that took the life of that innocent woman," Pence told NBC during a trip to Colombia.

Two Virginia state troopers were also killed in a helicopter crash Saturday that Gov. Terry McAuliffe has publicly linked to the white nationalist protest.