House Homeland Security Committee Will Hold Hearing on Domestic Terrorism After Charlottesville

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on domestic terrorism and threats from extremist groups following the white nationalist rally that left several people dead and 20 others injured in Charlottesville, Va. Saturday.

Republican Rep. Micheal McCaul, the committee’s chairman, announced the Sept. 12 hearing in a letter to ranking Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson.

“We must stand together and reject racism, bigotry, and prejudice, including the hateful ideologies promoted by neo-Nazis, the KKK, and all other white supremacy groups,” McCaul wrote. “They do not define who we are as Americans and their repulsive values must not be allowed to infect our neighborhoods and spread violence in our communities.”

Leaders of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center have been invited to participate in the hearing, McCaul said in the letter.

The Texas Republican wrote to Thompson in response to a letter he and other Democrats penned Tuesday requesting a committee hearing on the matter. “It is past time for this Committee on Homeland Security to act,” the Democrats wrote.

Saturday’s clash between white nationalists and anti-racism counter-protestors left three dead, including a woman who was killed when a man allegedly participating in the rally drove a car directly into a crowd of opponents. Two state troopers who were monitoring the rally died in a helicopter crash.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his belief that “both sides” were to blame for the violence. His statement drew swift condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike.