Steve Mnuchin's Yale Classmates Beg For Resignation In Open Letter

President Donald Trump's Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin received an open letter from his Yale classmates begging him to resign, citing Trump's Tuesday comments after racial tension and violence broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The open letter, which contains nearly 300 of Mnuchin's Yale classmates' signatures, made waves Friday after it was published on its own website. Yale's newspaper, Yale Daily News, also shared the letter through its website.

The letter began, "We believe it is your moral obligation to resign your post as Secretary of the Treasury, effective immediately."

"We understand that graduates of Yale College have served the United States proudly as presidents, members of the cabinet, and in many other capacities since its founding," the letter read. "That rarely, if ever, have any of us made such a request of a classmate, whatever our differences in political opinion have been."

The Yale alums claimed that they wanted to publicly address the letter to Mnuchin because Trump sympathized with the far-right advocates, which are unethical values that they consider don't fall in line with the "fundamental" values of human decency.

"President Trump made those declarations loudly, clearly, and unequivocally, and he said them as you stood next to him," the letter added.

According to the New York Times, Mnuchin, who is Jewish, appeared to look uncomfortable as Trump "exacerbated a controversy" with remarks that sympathized with the Nazi's and white supremacists behavior in Charlottesville. The far-right protesters primarily chanted anti-Semitic comments alongside other racist chants directed at African Americans at the rally. Trump referred to the far-right as "very fine people" before calling out the far-left for its actions.

"We can be Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, and a number of other things and still be friends, classmates, and patriots," the letter continued. "We cannot be Nazis and white supremacists."

The letter added, "We can disagree on the means of promoting the general welfare of the country, on the size and role of government, on the nature of freedom and security, but we cannot take the side of what we know to be evil."

Mnuchin's Yale classmates urged him to resign in an act of protest against Trump because of his bosses support of Nazism and white supremacy.

"We know you are better than this, and we are counting on you to do the right thing," the letter concluded.

The open letter comes on the heels of Tuesday's press briefing by Trump, who received scorn from both sides of the political aisle for directing equal condemnation at counter-protesters and the far-right. "What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?" Trump said.

Trump's comparison has led many members of his administration to sever tie with the administration. CEOs in Trump's business council and charitable organizations have parted ways with the president throughout the week. Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, most notably left the administration Friday and returned to his post at right-wing publication Breitbart.

Several counter-protests will be held nationwide as a follow-up to the events that transpired in Charlottesville. Boston, Dallas and New Orleans are holding "Fight Supremacy" protests, among other cities.

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