Former President Donald Trump fact-checked Vice President Kamala Harris' reference to the 2017 Charlottesville riots during a presidential debate in Philadelphia, saying the story was allegedly “false.”
“When it comes to Charlottesville, as you say, that story has been debunked,” Trump said. “Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Jesse, they've all covered it. If they write one more sentence, you'll see. It's been debunked by almost every newspaper, but the newspapers are still covering it.”
Trump's comments came after Harris referenced the 2017 protests and riots during the debate, echoing President Biden's comments that Trump sided with protesters who were “spewing anti-Semitic hatred.”
“Think back to Charlottesville, where there were crowds with tiki torches, spewing anti-Semitic hatred. And what did the president say at the time? There were fine people on both sides,” Harris said.
Biden reiterates Trump's false Charlottesville claims in late-night Democratic National Convention speech
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and former U.S. President Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Trump and Harris go into Tuesday's debate with the same goal in mind, but the moment could help them gain an edge in election polls that show them essentially neck and neck. Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
“The candidate, Donald Trump, has said that if the outcome of this election is not to his liking, there will be bloodshed. Let's fix this. Let's not go back to the past. Let's chart a course for the future and not go back to the past,” Harris said.
In March, Trump spoke about the auto industry and auto workers at a rally in Ohio, saying the United States would be in “catastrophe” if he wasn't elected.
“If I don't get elected, the whole country will be a disaster. It's just a handful. The whole country will be a disaster. It's just a handful. But they're not going to sell cars. They're building huge factories.”
Support surges among independents, Republicans as Trump slams Biden for 'totally disproven' Charlottesville story
During the debate, Trump countered that his “genocide” comment was referring to the economy.
“It was an energy-related word because they destroyed our energy businesses. That's where the bloodshed began,” he said, saying the Charlottesville narrative had been proven false.
David Muir, Lindsay Davis (ABC News)
Biden has previously claimed that after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people”.
Snopes exposes Charlottesville fake news, Biden found to have lied, Trump campaign claims
Earlier this year, the left-leaning fact-checking site Snopes published an article refuting a claim made by Biden and some media outlets that after the Unite the Right rally, Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Biden repeatedly He made the false claim before dropping out of the race, and even said it was what inspired him to run for the White House against President Trump in 2020.
In a fact check, Snopes detailed that when Trump made the remarks at a press conference that year, he was clear that he was not calling neo-Nazis “fine people.”
“Trump said that 'there are very fine people on both sides,' but clarified that he was not talking about neo-Nazis or white supremacists, who he said 'should be completely condemned,' so we've rated the claim 'False,'” Snopes wrote.
Left-wing fact-checker acknowledges Trump never called Charlottesville neo-Nazis 'very fine people' in blowback against Biden
The two-day Charlottesville protests in August 2017 saw white supremacists flood the city. They were met by hundreds of counter-demonstrators.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and former U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Trump and Harris come into Tuesday's debate with the same goal in mind, but the moment could give them both an edge as they are virtually neck and neck in the polls. Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
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“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this terrible display of hatred, bigotry and violence that took place on many sides, on many fronts,” Trump said in August of that year. At a press conference a few days later, Trump added that he condemned the “horrible display of hatred, bigotry and violence,” drawing criticism from Democrats for his comments that “there is responsibility on both sides” and that there are “very fine people on both sides.”
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