Malliotakis On Charlottesville: Part 2



Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis addressed the Charlottesville violence and President Trump’s “many sides” statement for a second day.  Speaking at a City Hall press conference this morning on her plan for strengthening the City’s handling of seriously mentally ill people Malliotakis again sought to distance herself from President Trump’s statement while offering a more direct personal denunciation.  (Malliotakis’ initial reaction yesterday is available here.)

Malliotakis’ began her response today by saying that “I only saw a couple of tweets, I didn’t see the whole … extent of everything that he said,” but then stated that “I think what occurred there was disgusting”  and said that “all Americans” should denounce the use of “Nazi flags, KKK propaganda.”

In response to a question Malliotakis did say that President Trump “should have called them out.”  When asked if she is troubled that Trump was not more forceful and direct Malliotakis again said “he should probably be more forceful” but didn’t reveal whether that lack of directness and forcefulness troubles her.

Here’s the full exchange on Charlottesville and Trump’s statement.  (I’ve excluded my question on whether Malliotakis expects to meet with Trump during his New York City visit.  “No” was her answer.)  The initial questions are from Mara Gay of the Wall Street Journal, with followups from me and Jill Jorgensen of the Daily News.