WATCH: Kirstjen Nielsen Doubles Down On Trump’s ‘Both Sides’ Charlottesville Response

WATCH: Kirstjen Nielsen Doubles Down On Trump’s ‘Both Sides’ Charlottesville Response

During an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in which she once again claimed that she hadn’t seen any evidence that Russia interfered in the election to assist Donald Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also had the president’s back on another issue.

At one point in their conversation, NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked Nielsen about the president’s highly panned response to the violence perpetrated by white supremacists in Charlottesville.

“When he — when in the comments that were obviously highly publicized — when he placed blame, in his words, on both sides, does that make your job harder when the president says things that at least in those communities are viewed as he’s got our back?” Alexander wanted to know.

After hemming and hawing for a bit, Nielsen then essentially doubled down on Trump’s remarks and sorta let Alexander know that she and the president had white nationalists’ backs.

“I think what’s important about that conversation is it’s not that one side is right, one side is wrong,” she stated. “Anybody that is advocating violence, we need to work to mitigate.”

She also suggested to Alexander that the violence could have been the result of foreign actors influencing the counterprotesters and white nationalists in an effort to pit “both sides” against each other.

Watch the clip below, via Media Matters.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.

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