Trump Blasts 'Weak Leaders' For Removing Confederate Monuments, Pugh Responds

In his freewheeling remarks last night at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, President Donald Trump briefly touched on "weak leaders" who have taken down Confederate monuments, apparently referencing the removals of several such monuments in Maryland.

"From George Washington--please don't take his statue down, please, please--does anybody want George Washington's statue? No. Is that sad? Is that sad?" Trump said. "They're trying to take away our culture. They're trying to take away our history and our weak leaders, they do it overnight. These things have been there for 150 years, for 100 years. You go back to a university and it's gone. Weak, weak people."

Last week, Baltimore's Democratic mayor, Catherine Pugh, orchestrated the removal of the city's four Confederate-linked monuments. Later the same week, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic House Speaker Michael Busch voted with the chairman of the board of trustees for the Maryland Historical Trust to remove a statue of Chief Justice Roger Taney (the author of the Dred Scott decision) from the State House grounds. At the direction of Republican Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, crews removed a Confederate memorial from outside the circuit courthouse in Ellicott City. In all three cases, removals were carried out overnight.

In Pugh's case, she acted hours after the City Council adopted a resolution calling for the monuments' immediate destruction. She conferred with council members late that evening, then took the statues to a city-owned yard after asking the Maryland Historical Trust for the necessary permissions. She said last week that various parties have asked about taking possession of the statues, and reiterated that on Wednesday. She couched the decision to take down the monuments as a public safety decision.

"So I'm praying for him," Pugh said Wednesday. "I'm praying for him because he needs to understand that love is the answer and not disrespecting anyone. I don't disrespect any politician or anybody in position [of power]. I think everybody in position has the right to believe what they want and do what they want but at the same time, we have to respect each other."

She dismissed concerns that the removal of the statues came at the cost of other priorities, like combating the city's escalating violent crime.

"I didn't want people walking down my street and making noise and fighting each other and bickering and stuff like that" because of the statues' presence, Pugh said. "People have opinions of which everybody is entitled but I have a responsibility to protect my city."

While Baltimore's Taney statue dates back to 1871, the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Bolton Hill and the Confederate Women's Monument at Bishop Square Park were erected in the early 20th century. A monument at Wyman Park Dell to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, decidated in 1948, was paid for through the will of a banker who died in 1928.

Kittleman, in an interview with WBAL News Now, characterized the timing as a logistical necessity.

"Anyone who's familiar with the Howard County circuit courthouse, it's very small and it's very tight in that area," Kittleman said earlier this week. "That's why we're building a new courthouse, because it's way outdated and it's not sufficient for what we need, so it didn't make any sense to try to do it when the courthouse was open. You have jurors coming in there, you have people coming for their court cases, and it's just very difficult to get around."

He said plans are underway to donate it to the Howard County Historical Society's museum, which has an exhibit on Howard County's role in the Civil War.

While Kittleman noted that county residents fought on both sides of the Civil War, "I don't think we should be honoring the service of confederate soldiers on county property." he said.

Trump's remarks connecting Washington and Lee echo his earlier off-the-cuff remarks in an impromptu news conference at Trump Tower last week, and in tweets last week.

Robert Lang contributed to this report.