布什父子谴责种族主义，川普解散两顾问委员会

U.S. President Donald Trump continues to face a barrage of criticism for his contention that both white supremacists and counter-protesters were to blame for the deadly violence that erupted last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.

On Wednesday, the president announced that he had dissolved two business advisory committees composed of top American corporate executives, after at least seven CEOs announced they were resigning from the councils because of his remarks.

Trump said that "rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople ... I am ending both. Thank you all!" A day ago, Trump had branded those quitting the panels as "grandstanders" and said they could be easily replaced with more corporate leaders.

In announcing her resignation from Trump's manufacturing jobs initiative before he disbanded it, Campbell's Soup CEO Denise Morrison said: "Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville. I believe the president should have been - and still needs to be - unambiguous on that point."

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Washington, D.C., that he condemns the "hate and violence" displayed on Saturday in Charlottesville, adding, "There is just simply no place for that in our public discourse."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speaking at an event in Miami, Florida, said, "In no way can we accept [or] apologize for racism, bigotry, hatred, violence, and those kind of things that too often arise in our country."

Also Wednesday, two former U.S. presidents, George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush, the last two Republicans elected to the White House before Trump, said in a joint statement, "America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms."

The two former presidents added, "As we pray for Charlottesville, we are reminded of the fundamental truths recorded by that city's most prominent citizen in the Declaration of Independence: we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights," a reference to Thomas Jefferson, one of the country's Founding Fathers. "We know these truths to be everlasting because we have seen the decency and greatness of our country."

President Trump's remarks have been roundly criticized by a broad range of U.S. leaders, including top Republican party officials and business executives. U.S. military commanders spoke out against racism following the death in Charlottesville.

Trump announced Wednesday he will hold a campaign rally next week in Phoenix, Arizona, but the city's mayor said that while the president has the right to stage the event, he hopes Trump will delay the visit.

"I am disappointed that President Trump has chosen to hold a campaign rally as our nation is still healing from the tragic events in Charlottesville," Mayor Greg Stanton said. "If President Trump is coming to Phoenix to announce a pardon for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, then it will be clear that his true intent is to enflame emotions and further divide our nation."

Arpaio was convicted last month in a federal court for disobeying a judge's order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. Trump said in an interview this week he was considering pardoning Arpaio, who was one of the speakers at last year's Republican National Convention where the now-president accepted the party's nomination for the November election.