Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the Republican Party does not want the support of white supremacists and will speak out against their racist views.
Host David Muir quoted several prominent Republican leaders, including McDaniel's uncle, Mitt Romney, for their condemnation of President Donald Trump's response to the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va. over the weekend between white supremacists and counter-protesters. He then asked McDaniel whether she agreed with their criticism of Trump.
"Well, the president condemned the white supremacists and the KKK and the Neo-Nazis unequivocally," McDaniel said.
Muir told McDaniel that it took Trump 48 hours to respond, prompting her to defend the president.
"But he did it and he should have and he did," McDaniel said. "Our party has across the board said this is unacceptable. We have no place in our party at all for KKK, anti-Semitism, racism, [and] bigotry. It has no place in the Republican Party. There is no home here. We don't want your vote. We don't support you. We'll speak out against you."
She went on to say that Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Republican leaders across the board have condemned racism in the Republican Party and will not tolerate it.
Muir then asked her specifically about Romney's tweet, which said that Trump cannot parse the blame on both sides.
No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) August 16, 2017
"I'm saying the president did the right thing condemning it," McDaniel said. "I'm saying absolutely the events that transpired in Charlottesville were initiated by this white supremacist KKK rally. It would not have happened if those people had not come together in hate. There were peaceful protesters that did the right thing coming out against it."
Muir asked McDaniel later in the interview about former KKK leader David Duke thanking Trump for his comments during Tuesday's press briefing. He thanked Trump on Twitter for his "honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa."
Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa https://t.co/tTESdV4LP0
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 15, 2017
"Oh, I think that makes everybody's stomach turn, and I think it makes the president's stomach turn," McDaniel said. "He has condemned David Duke. David Duke has nothing to do with the Republican Party. He's gonna try and get his name into the headlines. That's how we have to condemn him and white supremacy at every level."
"It is not something we want for this country. It's not something I want for my kids. I don't want them seeing this as part of our country's dialogue," McDaniel added.