Republicans' only black senator says Trump now 'gets' Charlottesville after history talk

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The only black Republican in the Senate said Donald Trump "got it" after he met with him to discuss the President diversifying his staff and his response to Charlottesville.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the first black Senator from the American Deep South, said that the pair spoke for about 45 minutes and “discussed everything from legislative remedies for those living in poverty, to the incident in Charlottesville, to some of the other issues that are important — diversifying staff (at the White House)”.

He said Mr Trump "got it" and seemed to understand the Charlottesville situation after the meeting as well as being "on board" with diversifying staff.

Mr Scott openly criticised the President for his remarks following the violence that resulted in three deaths - one counter-protester and two Virginia State Police officers - in Charlottesville, Virginia last month.

Protesters who wanted to keep a statue of Civil War Confederate General Robert E Lee intact were comprised of members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis with torches, various white supremacist groups, and others.

They clashed with protesters wanting the city to remove the statue because they felt it was a reminder of centuries of brutal slavery and honoured someone who was ultimately a traitor to the US government.

Counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed after a car was driven into a crowd. A man has been charged over the killing and a number of other offenses.

Mr Trump said that “many sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville.

He later condemned the hate groups in question by name, but kept repeating his stance that there were some good people on the so-called alt-right side and they were just “being treated very badly” by the US media.

Much of the President’s ire was focused on the media’s coverage of the incident and his responses.

Mr Scott said he gave Mr Trump some historical context to frame why he was so widely criticised about his response.

“While there were folks on both sides, some antagonism on both sides — the reality of it was we have three or four centuries of history in this nation around white supremacy, the KKK, neo-Nazis...but they're raping and murdering people of colours for three centuries,” Mr Scott said he told the President.

However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had a different characterisation of the conversation.

She said Mr Scott did not express his dismay with Mr Trump’s response to Charlottesville and that the two were focused on developing solutions for the future.

Mr Scott, in response to Ms Sanders’ apparent misunderstanding, said he “certainly started my comments on why I found the president’s comments unsettling”.

Overall, the meeting was “very productive” according to Mr Scott.