Republican Sens. Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio on Saturday bashed President Donald Trump for not calling out white nationalists or describing as terrorism the Charlottesville violence that killed one person and injured 34 others.
Gardner, of Colorado, and Rubio, who represents Florida, took to Twitter:
In his remarks in Bedminster, N.J., Trump condemned the violence as an "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," Trump told reporters. "Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama.
"This has been going on for a long, long time," he said. "It has no place in America."
But the president did not attack the white nationalists groups that organized the initial rally over the removal of a Confederate general's statute from a Charlottesville park.
He also did not label the later assault, which occurred when a car plowed into a crowd of protesters in the city's downtown area after police halted the rally.
One person was killed in that attack — and a total of 34 were injured in skirmishes in both locations, city officials said.
The driver of the car was later arrested by police. His identity has not yet been released.
Gardner and Rubio also were joined in slamming Trump by Florida GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee:
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