White supremacist group Patriot Front seen moving through Washington DC
In Washington, D.C., people wearing symbols of the white supremacist group Patriot Front were seen riding public transportation and marching to the beat of drums.
President Donald Trump’s cabinet members were pressed in new interviews to condemn the white supremacist group Patriot Front that marched on Washington on July 4.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Dana Bash asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum about a viral photo taken by Reuters freelance photographer Cheney Orr of a black woman surrounded by masked white supremacists on a train.
Patriot Front members were seen on Independence Day outside Union Station, Washington’s main train station, and the Eastern Market subway station near the U.S. Capitol. The group is a secret organization founded by Thomas Rousseau in 2017 in response to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed.
Asked by a CNN anchor if he was concerned about the group’s presence, the Interior Secretary praised the 250th anniversary celebrations and told Bash: “We’ve known since the beginning of our country that this is going to divide our country.” He praised Abraham Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War and said, “We are an extraordinary nation because our ideal that all men are created equal is extraordinary.”
Bash then asked the former North Dakota governor if he condemned the Patriot Front’s actions and values.
“What they are claiming is not something I agree with,” Burgum responded. “But one of America’s fundamental principles that is disrupting our democracy is freedom of speech.”
“There are a lot of things that I personally find offensive (deprecating), but in America we have free speech, and this is recognized in every way,” Burgum told Bash.
He went on to say that the United States is a country where people who support communism are elected, saying, “Our country is about life and liberty, and this is what our country stands for and has fought for. We are not about death and tyranny.”
Mr. Bash interrupted, saying he wanted to “move on,” and asked Mr. Burgum, a former Microsoft executive who later ran for president in 2024, whether he would encourage his boss to denounce the Patriot Front.
“Part of my reaction to that is that there’s a protest going on on the (National) Mall that people are saying (reprehensible) things about President Trump, but it’s allowed in our country because we have free speech,” Burgum told Bash.
In videos circulating online, hundreds of Patriot Front members were seen carrying variations of the Patriot Front flag, the Confederate flag and the American flag, sometimes chanting “Take back America.” The group posted on social media confirming that its members gathered in the capital on July 4, but no members were seen at major Independence Day celebrations.
Contributor: Mike Snyder, Reuters
