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A descendant of Confederate General Robert E. Lee said that President Donald Trump's remarks about his ancestor were "far from the truth" in a video on Saturday.
Reverend Robert Lee IV, who is the great-great-great-great-grand-nephew of General Lee, tweeted the message after Trump staged a rally on Friday in Ohio where, congratulating the ### State of being the birthplace of General Ulysses S. Grant, he said that the Confederate general was "a real great fighter and a great general".
Lee's video is a response to the NBC newspaper and other media that shared a video of Trump's quote, whom the president has called for being irresponsibly denounced.
"Robert E. Lee has been fighting for continued slavery of black bodies," Lee said in his Twitter video. "It was for the rights of states, yes, but for the rights of states to own slaves."
"He shows us that he supports an idol of white supremacy and hate," said Lee about Trump.
The video gained popularity over the weekend and had racked up more than 7,000 retweets and nearly 20,000 mentions I like at the time of writing these lines.
Lee had already criticized his ancestor when he spoke at the MTV Video Music Awards 2017 after the violent clashes in Charlottesville, calling him an "idol of white supremacy, racism and hate."
President Trump said in a tweet Sunday that his remarks on Friday had been intentionally misinterpreted, and that his remarks were actually a "cry of gratitude for the warrior Grant".
President Trump had previously opposed the removal of public statues honoring Confederate personalities, including General Lee.
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