Ryan critiques Trump’s Charlottesville response

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Monday evening critiqued President Donald Trump’s response to the Aug. 12 violence in Charlottesville, Va., saying the commander in chief failed to provide moral clarity when the nation needed it most. “I do believe that he messed up in his comments,” Ryan said during a town hall meeting in his home state televised by CNN. “It sounded like moral equivalency, or at the very least, moral ambiguity, when we need extreme moral clarity.” Ryan often sidesteps Trump controversies but this time said the president could have and should have done better. Ten days ago, white supremacists and neo-Nazis clashed with counterprotesters in Charlottesville. One woman died after a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd, injuring 19 others. In an unwieldy press conference last week, Trump claimed good people protested on both sides and all shared the blame. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Ryan if Trump should offer an apology. Ryan stopped short of that but said it’s crucial Republicans and Democrats uniformly denounce racism and bigotry. “It is very, very important that we not make this a partisan food fight,” Ryan added.