Former Speaker Newt Gingrich Newton (Newt) Leroy GingrichMORE (R-Ga.) on Sunday said President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE should “more aggressively” condemn the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.

“Well, first of all, I do think the president should speak up more clearly. And I suspect today or tomorrow he will,” Gingrich told “Fox News Sunday.”

Gingrich said Trump’s statement, in which the president condemned the violence on “many sides,” was both strong and direct.

“I do think if you're — if you're fair to him, the statement itself was pretty strong and pretty direct about condemning the violence, condemning bigotry,” Gingrich said.

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“I mean he talks very specifically about condemning racism. But I agree, I think that clearly he should talk out much more aggressively about it.”

Gingrich’s comments come one day after a vehicle mowed down counter-protesters at the Virginia rally, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others.

Gingrich during the Sunday morning round-table said there has been “a rising tide of violence in this country for good while now,” pointing to a report that the chancellor of the University of California-Berkeley had an emergency escape door installed in the event that he should have to flee from protesters.



“Every person engaged in violence in Charlottesville should be, frankly, locked up. But the truth is the same on college campuses,” Gingrich said. “It's true across the country. We have to decide violence is unacceptable, even in free speech, but you can't have violence.”