Trump's Business Advisory Councils Disbanded In Wake Of Charlottesville Comments

WASHINGTON (CBS SF) -- Two key business councils set up by President Donald Trump were disbanded Wednesday amid criticism from CEOs for remarks on Charlottesville protest.

The CEOs of seven major U.S. companies have resigned from the councils -- the Manufacturing Council and Strategy & Policy Forum -- following Trump's comments on the deadly Charlottesville violence. The latest was Campbell CEO Denise Morrison.

"Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville," Morrison said in a statement Wednesday morning. "I believe the President should have been — and still needs to be — unambiguous on that point."

Trump suggested in remarks Tuesday that the white supremacists and counter-protesters both blameworthy for violence that erupted this weekend in Charlottesville. Morrison said the president's comments triggered her resignation from the manufacturing jobs panel.

Morrison's resignation came less than two hours after 3M CEO Inge Thulin announced he was stepping down.

"I believe the initiative is no longer an effective vehicle for 3M to advance" its goals, Thulin said, which he says are to achieve a United States which is "stronger, healthier and more prosperous for all people."

The exodus forced Trump and the councilmembers to jointly decided to disband the councils.