The prepared remarks for President Trump’s response to violence in Charlottesville on Saturday were similar “in tone and substance” to the speech he gave Monday condemning white supremacist hate groups, Politico reported, but the president chose to veer from them. Per a senior White House adviser, the president went off-script Saturday when he said that “hatred on many sides” led to the violence, which included the death of a woman struck by a vehicle plowing through anti-racism demonstrators. Two days later, after his weaker statement Saturday caused public outrage, Trump finally gave the unequivocal remarks condemning “hate groups”—remarks similar to those originally written and prepared for him to deliver on Saturday.
