Dem introduces measures calling for Trump to fire staff who have backed white supremacists

More than 30 Democratic House members are moving to pressure the Trump administration to fire employees whom they deem supportive of white supremacy. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced a resolution Tuesday condemning the breakout of violence in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend during demonstrations by white nationalists, as well as a series of equivocal statements made by President Trump in the immediate aftermath of the violent protest.

“When the president fails to swiftly condemn white supremacist terrorism, it’s imperative that Congress steps up and says clearly: Hate is not welcome, hate is un-American and we will strongly resist hate wherever it appears,” Jayapal said in a statement.

{mosads}While the resolution itself calls only for the removal of administration employees “who have supported or encouraged support for White supremacists,” a press release issued by Jayapal’s office lists White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, senior adviser Stephen Miller and national security aide Sebastian Gorka as targets of the resolution.

The resolution comes as leaders from several minority congressional caucuses also call on the president to oust Bannon, Miller and Gorka.

Before joining Trump’s White House, Bannon helmed Breitbart News, which he deemed the “platform for the alt-right.” Gorka previously worked as a national security editor for Breitbart. 

Trump faced mounting criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for his equivocal statements following the violence in Charlottesville that left one counterprotester dead after a car allegedly driven by an Ohio man with links to neo-Nazi groups plowed into a crowd of demonstrators.

On Monday, the president offered his most forceful rebuke of white supremacists and hate groups, saying that “racism is evil” and calling out groups like the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

“Those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” he said at the White House.