Justice Department launches civil rights investigation into Charlottesville violence

The car that allegedly rammed into anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The Department of Justice has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the violence at Saturday's white nationalist rally and counter-protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left three dead and dozens wounded.

"The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice," said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated." Sessions reported the FBI is already working with state and local law enforcement at the scene.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.