Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin issued a statement Monday rejecting his former Yale classmates’ call for him to resign over President Trump’s response to the deadly violence at a demonstration by white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Mr. Mnuchin, who is Jewish, said he found it “hard to believe” that he needed to defend himself or the president, who he said was being wrongly accused of supporting bigotry and hatred.
“As someone who is Jewish, I believe I understand the long history of violence and hatred against the Jews (and other minorities) and circumstances that give rise to these sentiments and actions,” he said in the statement.
“While I find it hard to believe I should have to defend myself on this, or the President, I feel compelled to let you know that the President in no way, shape or form, believes that neo-Nazi and other hate groups who endorse violence are equivalent to groups that demonstrate in peaceful and lawful ways,” he said.
Saying he was proud to serve as Treasury secretary, Mr. Mnuchin vowed to continue work on behalf of Mr. Trump’s agenda to “simplify regulations, reform taxes and generate millions of jobs through higher growth.”
He also said he would continue to use all Treasury’s powers and resources to combat terrorist financing around the world.
“These are my most important priorities as treasury secretary,” he said.
Nearly 300 of Mr. Mnuchin’s former Yale classmates posted online a letter saying he had a “moral obligation” to quit the Trump administration after a white nationalist protesters clashed with counter-protesters at an Aug. 12 demonstration in Charlottesville.
During the clashes, a car allegedly driven by a white nationalist sped into a crowd of counter-protesters and killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured 19 others.
Mr. Trump was criticized for his immediate response to the violence because he said there is “blame on both sides.” The president later specifically condemned neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and white nationalists that participated in the demonstration.
The classmates’ letter said: “We call upon you, as our friend, our classmate, and as a fellow American, to resign in protest of President Trump’s support of Nazism and white supremacy. We know you are better than this, and we are counting on you to do the right thing.”
Mr. Mnuchin first responded to his classmates in an open letter Saturday. Treasury released it as a statement Monday.
Mr. Mnuchin said that he and the president “strongly condemn the actions of those filled with hate and with the intent to harm others.”
“They have no defense from me nor do they have any defense from the President or this administration,” he wrote. “As the President said in his very first comment on the events that were unfolding in Charlottesville, ’[w]e all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let’s come together as one.’”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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