Your Wednesday political briefing: Trump remarks, part 2; Strange, Moore in runoff; Confederate memorials

Here is what is trending in politics around Georgia and across the nation on Wednesday.

1. Trump says there’s blame to go around

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said “there is blame on both sides” for the violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, last week. The president, speaking from Trump Tower in New York City, seemed to walk back comments he made Monday from the White House in which he condemned white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis as “thugs.” Trump said both sides shared blame for the violence in which a white supremacist drove into a crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman and injured at least 19 others.

2. Strange, Moore in runoff

Former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and the state’s former chief justice, Roy Moore, will face off in a primary runoff next month to determine who will represent the GOP in November’s special election to fill the Senate seat left vacant when Jeff Sessions was named U.S. Attorney General. Strange and Moore came out on top of a crowded field in Tuesday’s primary election. The winner of next month’s runoff will face Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney under the Clinton administration, The Montgomery Advertiser reported. It has been more than 20 years since Alabama has sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate.

3. Tiki torch maker upset

The man who heads the company that makes the Tiki torches used by white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville last week said he was appalled and saddened that his company’s products were used “by people who promote bigotry and hatred,” The Columbus Enquirer reported. The torches are made in Columbus, Georgia, by W.C. Bradley Co.

4. Sessions to highlight helpful cities

Sessions will highlight cities that cooperate with federal immigration officials during a trip to Miami on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Sessions said cities that refuse to share information, so called “sanctuary cities,” jeopardize public safety -- the “most fundamental duty of government.”

5. N.C. governor wants all Confederate statues downGeorgia is one of three states that have 90 or more Confederate monuments within its borders, according to a count by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The governor of one of the other states – North Carolina – says he plans to rid his state of all of the monuments to Southern Civil War leaders. According to The News and Observer, Gov. Roy Cooper, (D), has called for the removal of the monuments after a group tore one down and stomped on a statue of a Confederate soldier Monday night in Durham, North Carolina.

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