Former President Donald Trump bragged Friday that he never called a group of neo-Nazis "very fine people" — but cited a controversial fact-check that has been partially disclaimed as proof.
Trump published his boast to Truth Social in the form of a quotation which he attributes to a report from the conservative tabloid the New York Post, but actually originates with a Fox News post.
"Left wing fact checker admits Trump never called Charlottesville neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’," Trump wrote, quoting the Fox News headline.
"While Trump did say that there were 'very fine people on both sides,' he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists."
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The fact check in question came from Snopes late last month and almost immediately drew criticism that resulted in an updated editor's note.
The claim Snopes declared false was that "On Aug. 15, 2017, then-President Donald Trump called neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, 'very fine people.'"
Snopes acknowledged Trump had said of the rally — which turned violent when neo-Nazis and white supremacists clashed with counter protesters — "there were "very fine people on both sides."
The false ruling was based on Trump's comment to a reporter that neo-Nazis and white nationalists should be "condemned totally."
"You had some very bad people in that group," Trump said. "But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides...I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists."
The New Republic immediately slammed Snopes take, arguing the fact-checking site had failed to recognize Trump's rhetorical doublespeak when he referenced people who had shown up the night before the rally to protest "innocently" and "quietly."
"The 'night before' that Trump was referring to included the infamous tiki torch march, the one with people chanting 'Blood and soil!' and 'You will not replace us!' and 'Jews will not replace us!'" wrote author Parker Molloy. "Those were the people Trump was specifically referring to in his defense of attendees."
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Snopes responded to criticism with an editor's note:
"This fact check aimed to confirm what Trump actually said, not whether what he said was true or false," the note reads. "For the record, virtually every source that covered the Unite the Right debacle concluded that it was conceived of, led by and attended by white supremacists, and that therefore Trump's characterization was wrong."
Whom precisely Trump had in mind when he made the comment only Trump can know. But it's worth noting this is not the first report, or brushing off, of such praise.
One House Republican broke out in giggles when a Raw Story reporter asked about Trump's reported praise of Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler, revealed this year by his former chief of staff John Kelly.
Kelly said the former president praised Hitler for his economic record and claimed he "did some good things."
And former executive vice president of the Trump Organization Barbara Res revealed last month that her former boss thought it was funny to make jokes about the Nazis around Jewish employees.
"Then he looked at a couple of our executives who happen to be Jewish, and he said 'Watch out for this guy, he sort of remembers the ovens,' and then smiled," Res said. "He was making a joke about the Nazi ovens and eating people."
