By Lee Roper
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the white supremacist group, Patriot Front, marching through the capital on the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Several videos posted to social media show masked individuals clad in navy-blue shirts, khaki pants, tan baseball caps, sunglasses, and white cloth face coverings marching through Washington D.C., carrying American flags, Confederate flags, and other banners while chanting “reclaim America.”
Photographers also documented members of the far-right group at the Eastern Market Metro station and on public transit.
In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Burgum defended the group, saying they were exercising their free speech rights.
“What they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with, but one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy necessary, is free speech,” he said when asked if he condemned the group. “There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive and reprehensible. But in America, free speech is allowed, and this is by the whole spectrum of things.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) classifies the Patriot Front as a white supremacist group that believes that America belongs exclusively to descendants of European settlers.
On Sunday, Burgum insisted that the demonstration was “small” and a “rare example” of right-wing extremism.
When asked if he would recommend that Trump condemn the group, Burgum refused to answer.
“People say things that I think are reprehensible about President Trump, and yet they’re allowed to go on because of free speech in our country,” he said.
“But I do think, again, there are people that are saying ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America,’” Burgum added. “This is part of free speech in America. They can say it, we can object to it, but it is something that comes with free speech in America.”
