Watch/Download Senator Rosen’s full remarks here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, spoke on the Senate floor, condemning the President’s failure to denounce white supremacist rhetoric and violence during last night’s Presidential debate.
“At a time when this nation is having a profound discussion about race, with anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head here in the United States and around the globe, and with the nation being torn apart over political differences, our leaders — particularly our President — must call out hate in all its forms,” said Senator Rosen. “Not only did the President of our United States not condemn the White Supremacist violence that he has incited during his tenure– he implicitly gave them their marching orders. When asked to condemn the hate group, the Proud Boys, the President of the United States said that they should ‘stand back and stand by.’ ”
“There is no justification for his words or for his refusal to give a clear, direct, and swift condemnation of White Supremacy,” Senator Rosen continued. “The President’s emboldening of violent extremists comes as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security named white supremacist extremists as the most significant terrorism-related threat to the United States.”
“He didn’t misspeak last night, he didn’t make a joke, and regardless of what others may say, words matter. His words matter. He is the President of the United States,” Senator Rosen concluded. “Well let me say today, as the President should have last night — and I invite all my colleagues to join me in this statement — I condemn white nationalism, I condemn racism, I condemn anti-Semitism, and I condemn and denounce the groups that promote these vile ideologies, the Proud Boys among them. But we must speak out, and we must take action. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to not be complicit in their silence and join me in denouncing white supremacy, as President Trump failed to do.”
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