Story highlights Gardner said white nationalists aren't a part of anyone's political base

He said Trump needs to speak out against white supremacy in the same way he has about Islamist extremism

Washington (CNN) Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that President Donald Trump needed to make a forceful statement against white supremacy.

"This is not a time for vagaries," Gardner said. "This isn't a time for innuendo or to allow room to be read between the lines. This is a time to lay blame -- to lay blame on bigotry, to lay blame on white supremacists, on white nationalism and on hatred. And that needs to be said."

Gardner praised Trump for calling out Islamist terrorism across the globe and said the President needed to do the same with domestic terrorists motivated by racism.

"This President needs to do exactly that today," Gardner said. "Call this white supremacism, this white nationalism evil, and let the country hear it, let the world hear it. It's something that needs to come from the Oval Office, and this White House needs to do it today."

As violence unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, white nationalists clashed with counterprotesters, and a man rammed a car through a group of counterprotesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 others, authorities said. Trump gave a statement Saturday pointing to "many sides" as being responsible for the violence; but while he denounced bigotry, he did not condemn white supremacy.

Read More