The claim that then-President Donald Trump called neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, "very fine people" was rated "false" by left-leaning fact-checking website Snopes.
"Trump did say there were 'very fine people on both sides,' referring to the protesters and the counterprotesters. He said in the same statement he wasn't talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be 'condemned totally,'" Snopes said.
Snopes' post was later updated to include an editor's note that stated readers had raised concerns that the fact check "appears to assume Trump was correct." Snopes added that this "is not the case."
Trump's comments, which were taken out of context, "spread like wildfire," according to Snopes, and were used in Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.