A video that sparked outrage across the country ignited a response from the White House press secretary Tuesday night, saying the Trump administration supports the students from Kentucky's Covington Catholic High School.
"We've reached out and voiced our support" for the students, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Tuesday night. "Certainly no one understands better than this president when the media jumps to conclusions and attacks you for something you may or may not have done."
A snippet of video surfaced over the weekend showing a white teenager wearing a red "Make America Great Again" ball cap, and smugly smiling, while a Native American bangs a drum and chants. The two are apparently staring eyeballs, which set social media on fire during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
But since the initial video hit the worldwide web, other videos published, causing doubt on the whole situation. While explanations bounced in from all directions, Twitter suspended the account of the originator, which reportedly came from Brazil.
And while the main media focus pinpoints the white students from Covington and Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips, some blame a group of Hebrew Israelites who first encountered the Covington students, and that's when Phillips interjected to break up a potential scuffle with a Native American chant, in which the viral staredown happened.
The Covington Catholic High student, Nick Sandmann, claimed he wasn't disrespectful to Phillips, who likewise said he would like to meet with the Kentucky students.
"Race relations in this country and around the world have reached a boiling point," Phillips said, as per the news release. "It is sad that on the weekend of a holiday when we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., racial hostility occurred on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, where King gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech."
Sandmann claimed he did nothing wrong during the confrontation.
"My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips," Sandmann said during an NBC interview scheduled for Wednesday. "I respect him. I'd like to talk to him. In hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing."
This CNN report stated the White House wouldn't say if a visit would take place for the Covington students during the partial government shutdown, now entering its 33rd day.
"If the President does have them here, it'll be sometime after the shutdown if that happens," Sanders said.
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