Alabama senator says white nationalists are racists after weeks of declining to say so

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is backing off his defense of white nationalists, telling reporters in the Capitol that white nationalists “are racists.” Tuberville’s brief comment Tuesday follows several media interviews in which he has repeatedly declined to describe white nationalists as racist. And it comes as the Alabama Republican is also receiving criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his monthslong blockade on the confirmation of all senior military officers in protest of a Defense Department abortion policy. In May, Tuberville said of white nationalists, “I call them Americans.”