Outgoing United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley defended President Trump from claims that his rhetoric has helped to inspire extremists to attack Democrats and minorities, arguing that no one blamed former President Barack Obama when incidents occurred during his administration.

“I have struggled w/ what happened in Pitts bc it’s so similar to what happened in Chas. The country was very racially divided @ the time," Haley wrote on Twitter late Monday. "We didn’t once blame Pres. Obama. We focused solely on the lives lost & their families. Have some respect for these families & stop the blame."

[Opinion: Obama, the Great Divider when in office, lacks the credibility to lecture America]


Prior to becoming U.N. ambassador, Haley served as governor of South Carolina. During her administration, a gunman fatally shot nine African-American people who had gathered at a church in Charleston. The convicted shooter, Dylann Roof, is an admitted white supremacist who expressed hate for black people.

People on Twitter called out Haley for the tweet, drawing attention to her own prior comments linking Trump to the Charleston church shooting.

A recent string of incidents prompted some to blame Trump's rhetoric for inciting hatred and prompting people to act on it. More than a dozen pipe bombs were sent to Democratic lawmakers and donors last week and a gunman opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, killing 11 people. The suspect in the shooting said he wanted to "kill Jews," according to a federal affidavit.

“Time and time again, the president has condoned physical violence and divided Americans with his words and his actions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement last week.

Trump blames members of the "fake news" media for being responsible for the violent attacks.

"CNN and others in the Fake News Business keep purposely and inaccurately reporting that I said the 'Media is the Enemy of the People.' Wrong! I said that the 'Fake News (Media) is the Enemy of the People,' a very big difference. When you give out false information - not good!" he wrote.