Story highlights Rosenstein: "There can be no safe harbor for violence"

The DOJ is looking into potential civil rights prosecutions tied to white supremacist protesters

Washington (CNN) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein called the white supremacist rhetoric surrounding the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month "abhorrent to American values."

"In Charlottesville this month, we saw and heard people openly advocate racism and bigotry. Our Department of Justice responded immediately," Rosenstein told a Utah anti-terrorism conference Wednesday. "The First Amendment often protects hateful speech that is abhorrent to American values. But there can be no safe harbor for violence."

His comments contrast with those made by President Donald Trump at a news conference the week after the rally, in which he blamed "both sides" -- the white supremacists and those protesting them -- for the violence that left one person dead and several injured.

Rosenstein is the second high-ranking Jewish member of Trump's administration to firmly condemn the white supremacist groups at Charlottesville in the past week.

In a candid interview with the Financial Times conducted last week, Gary Cohn , the National Economic Council director, said Trump's handling of the Charlottesville violence and protests caused him "distress." He said the administration "can and must do better" to condemn hate groups.

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