Mike Pence: Trump administration condemns all forms of violence, especially ‘hate’ and ‘bigotry’

Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that he and President Trump condemn all forms of hatred and violence, especially what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.

“The president made it very clear in his statement this weekend that we condemn all forms of hate and violence and particularly, as we did yesterday, we condemn the hate, and the violence, and the bigotry of the organizations that showed up in Charlottesville, like the KKK and white supremacists. The president was clear on that and will continue to be clear,” Mr. Pence said.

The white supremacists, KKK and neo-Nazis appeared in Charlottesville as part of a white nationalist rally to protest the removal of a Confederate statute.

The vice president is currently on a four-day trip to Latin America to try to address the ongoing turbulence in Venezuela.

Mr. Pence said the country’s fate is definitely in the interest of United States and other countries in the region because of the influence drug cartels have on families.

“We’re simply not going to tolerate seeing Venezuela collapse into dictatorship. A failed state knows no borders. As we see Venezuela collapse into dictatorship it becomes a hub, an even greater hub, for narcotics that are tearing apart families in our country,” he said. “The president has made it very clear that as Venezuela collapses, it threatens the prosperity and security of the United States and all the nations in this hemisphere.”

Mr. Pence also addressed the ongoing Russia probe into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with the country as well as the recently signed sanctions bill.

“Russian actions all across the region with rogue regimes, we will no longer tolerate that. We will stand firm with our allies in the region. We will stand with free nations in the region. But we believe that certainty about our positions will create an opportunity for a better relationship with Russia and we hope that we can have one,” he said.

When asked about the ongoing case involving the campaign’s possible Russian ties Mr. Pence said the president has made his feelings about that clear.

“The president has made it very clear that he believes there was no collusion whatsoever in the course of our campaign,” the vice president said adding that everyone in the administration is “fully cooperating” with the special counsel.