Rep. Andre Carson among lawmakers sponsoring resolution demanding Trump disavow white supremacists

Rep. Andre Carson is among sponsors of a U.S. House resolution introduced Tuesday calling for President Donald Trump to fire administration officials who have supported white supremacists. 

The house concurrent resolution, introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), has around 40 co-sponsors. Citing weekend violence in Charlottesville, Va., it urges Trump to denounce white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan and fire administration officials who have supported or encouraged support for white supremacists. 

Jayapal specifically identified those administration officials as White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Senior Advisor for Policy Stephen Miller and Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka as having supported white supremacists in a news release Tuesday and called for their removal. 

“When the president fails to swiftly condemn white supremacist terrorism, it’s imperative that Congress steps up and says clearly: Hate is not welcome, hate is un-American and we will strongly resist hate wherever it appears,” Jayapal said in the release.

Carson later tweeted his support of the resolution, using the hashtag #FireBannon. 

Saturday’s "Unite the Right" rally was held in protest of the city's removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, which until recently was known as Lee Park. The rally turned violent as white nationalists and counter protesters clashed.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a vehicle plowed into a crowd of counter protesters after the rally. Virginia State Police Lt. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke Bates were killed in a helicopter crash while monitoring the rally.

► Hackney:Charlottesville rips open America's ugliness

The resolution specifically cites Trump's statement that "many sides" were to blame for the violence as being "grossly inadequate." 

Trump defended that statement Tuesday. 

"What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, alt-right?" Trump said. "Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in their hands?"

After the president's statement Tuesday, former KKK leader David Duke tweeted a message thanking Trump for his "courage" to "condemn the leftist terrorists."  

Speaking at a news conference in Cartagena, Colombia, Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence condemned white nationalist groups "in the strongest possible terms."

"We have no tolerance for hate and violence, white supremacists or neo-Nazis or the KKK," Pence said. 

Other Indiana elected officials took to Twitter Tuesday to voice their apparent disagreement with the president's statements, including Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Columbia City). 

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) also weighed in Tuesday night, saying, "We must condemn, not condone, white supremacists and Nazis. As I've said, the hatred and bigotry in Charlottesville is not reflective of our values as Hoosiers or Americans." 

Concurrent resolutions can be used to express the sentiment of both houses and do not require the signature of the president, nor do they have the force of law. 

Read the full text of the resolution here: 

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.