Pence defends Trump’s speech that failed to condemn hate groups

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On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence took time out of his trip to Colombia to specifically condemn neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan while defending President Donald Trump‘s remarks on the recent violence and white terrorism in Virginia.

“We have no tolerance for hate and violence and white supremacists,” Pence said. “These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American debate and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

However, Trump has come under fire for his own comments, where he said that there was “bigotry and violence on many sides.” Many were upset that he gave such an ambiguous statement rather than condemning the “Unite the Right” rally that took place in Charlottesville.

However, Pence said that Trump spoke “from the heart.”

“The President made clear by others of certain militant perspectives are also unacceptable in our political debate and discourse,” Pence said, going on to criticize the media for focusing on Trump’s words rather than focusing on the suspected killer, James Fields.

“We should be putting the attention where it belongs, and that is on these extremist groups that need to be pushed out of the public debate entirely and discredited,” he added.

His comments were made during a news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, whose son graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.