Zeldin Under Fire For Defending Trump On Charlottesville

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By Nathan Guttman August 16, 2017

New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, one of only two Jewish Republicans in the House of Representatives, was among the few who stood up for President Trump after his Tuesday comments blaming “both sides” for the Charlottesville events.

“It is not right to suggest that President Trump is wrong for acknowledging the fact that criminals on both sides showed up for the purpose of being violent,” Zeldin wrote in a Facebook post, “That particular observation is completely true.” Zeldin, who represents the East End of Long Island, added that there is “an element of our country” that has pledged to oppose and resist Trump on every issue, “and to this population the President cannot say or do absolutely anything at all that they won’t criticize as long as he is in the office he was elected to serve in last November.”

Perry Gershon, a Democrat seeking to unseat Zeldin, seized on Zeldin’s statement and called for his removal from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council because he backed Trump’s comments. “Zeldin must condemn these attacks for what they are – racist and anti-Semitic. Until he does, he should be removed from the US Holocaust Memorial Council,” Gershon said in a statement.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.