WASHINGTON ― A CEO serving on President
Donald Trump’s council on manufacturing announced his resignation early Monday from the White House panel, in protest of
Trump’s continued silence on the white nationalist groups who incited Saturday’s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Ken Frazier, the head of Merck pharmaceuticals, said in a statement he was stepping down “as a matter of personal conscience” and “to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Donald and Merck & Co. CEO Ken Frazier at a White House meeting in February.
In response, Trump ― who has yet to personally denounce the far-right groups who sparked Saturday’s deadly carnage in Charlottesville ― directly attacked Frazier on Twitter.
His tweet was one of several posted on Monday morning, ranging from attacking “
obstructionist Democrats” to pledging he would
work on “trade and military” and reiterating
his support for Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who is squaring off against several opponents in a GOP primary on Tuesday.
None of his tweets addressed the weekend’s violence.
After Trump on Saturday had blamed “many sides” for the hatred that led to the violence in Charlottesville, the White House on Sunday said in a statement that “of course” that included “white supremacists, KKK Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”
Still, the statement was attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, not to Trump himself.