Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (Del.) on Tuesday praised President Donald Trump's remarks from a Monday night event where the president spoke out against bigotry.
Trump's remarks came during his announcement of the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Coons the next day about Trump's speech, which opened with the president condemning the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Va.
"What you're referring to, Wolf, is one of his first sentences was, 'when we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for bigotry or hatred,'" Coons said. "I thought that was a positive, a constructive thing for the president to say."
"And I think it bears repeating as many times as he chooses to repeat it, that as a nation we need to come together, particularly when we're confronting big issues of national security like our path forward in Afghanistan," he said.
Blitzer then asked Coons if he believed Trump was racist or bigoted, to which Coons said he did not believe the president was.
Coons' remarks run contrary to some of his Democratic colleagues in Congress, including Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.), who has explicitly called Trump a racist.
