President Donald Trump today announced that he is disbanding his administration’s business advisory groups, the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategic and Policy Forum.
Trump said today, on Twitter, “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!”
The move comes after Trump was criticized for remarks he made about violence that occurred at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. On Saturday a car struck counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others. The driver of the car, a 20-year-old man from Ohio, has been charged with second-degree murder. In addition, two state troopers, who were monitoring the rally, also died Saturday when their helicopter crashed.
Since Monday, several members of the manufacturing council stepped down in response to comments Trump made both Saturday and Tuesday after the Charlottesville violence. The Wall Street Journal created a timeline showing when executives left the White House councils and how Trump reacted.
