I went to YouTube and listened to the entire speech:
Did President Trump state what MSNBC reported as mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog post?
He did say (emphases mine):
TRUMP:...If you take a look at some of the groups, and you see – and you'd know it if you were honest reporters, which in many cases you're not – but many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. So this week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?Read the entire transcript HERE at the Washington Post.
But they were there to protest -- excuse me, if you take a look, the night before they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee....
[...]
Reporter: Who are the good people? Sir, I just didn’t understand what you were saying. You were saying the press has treated white nationalists unfairly? I just don’t understand what you were saying.
TRUMP: No, no. There were people in that rally -- and I looked the night before -- if you look, there were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. The following day it looked like they had some rough, bad people -- neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest -- because I don’t know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit. So I only tell you this: There are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country -- a horrible moment. But there are two sides to the country....
The words torch and torches were not included in any words uttered by President Trump.
Questions now arise in my mind....
1. On Friday night, August 11, were there people quietly protesting the removal of the statue and not carrying torches, or was the only group there that evening the torch bearers a la the KKK?
2. Does anyone here know the exact route of those carrying torches on Friday night?
3. Does anyone here know if there were people surrounding the statue on Friday night so as to protect it from possible vandals? I ask this because in 2006, I participated in a protective ring around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when Code Pink came to Washington, D.C., in a stated attempt to vandalize the Wall.
