Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Doug McMillon is critical of President Donald Trump's initial handling of the violence that broke out in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend.

But the Bentonville-based retailer's chief executive officer is not joining the growing list of leaders resigning from Trump's advisory councils.

McMillon addressed the events of the weekend in an internal memo that was distributed to employees Monday and shared by the company Tuesday. In the note, McMillon reiterated "respect for the individual" is one of Wal-Mart's core beliefs and added "the role we play in communities around the country to build a more diverse and inclusive society is more critical than ever." McMillon also said that Trump fell short with his response by failing to quickly condemn the actions of white supremacists for the violence that left one protester dead and several injured.

"As we watched the events and the response from President Trump over the weekend, we too felt that he missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists," McMillon wrote in the note to employees.

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McMillon said that Trump's follow-up comments Monday, when he called out neo-Nazis and white supremacists, "were a step in the right direction and we need that clarity and consistency in the future."

Those thoughts were distributed before Trump pivoted Tuesday, saying once again that there was "blame on both sides" for the violent clashes in Virginia over the weekend.

Merck & Co.'s Kenneth Frazier, Under Armour Inc.'s Kevin Plank and Intel Corp.'s Brian Krzanich have stepped down from Trump's manufacturing council since the events in Charlottesville. Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said Tuesday that he was stepping down as well because it was "the right thing for me to do." And AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka resigned Tuesday evening.

They join Elon Musk of Tesla Inc., Bob Iger of Walt Disney Co. and Travis Kalanick of Uber Technologies Inc., who previously walked away from Trump's business advisory panels.

The decision from the executives to step down this week led Trump to respond on Twitter on Tuesday, saying, "For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!"

When asked later during a press briefing if he agreed with McMillon's statement about missing a critical opportunity to bring the country together, Trump said "not at all."

"The head of Wal-Mart, who I know, who's a very nice guy, was making a political statement," Trump said.

McMillon is not a member of the Trump's manufacturing council, but he is part of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum. A company spokesman confirmed his plans to remain a member of the forum, which includes CEOs of IBM, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, PepsiCo and others.

Wal-Mart employs about 1.5 million workers in the U.S. and has more than 4,600 stores nationwide.

"Our country is facing some very difficult issues that require our elected officials, business leaders and community-based organizations to work together," McMillon said in the memo. "Representing a company with the largest and one of the most diverse groups of associates in the U.S., and an even more diverse customer base of tens of millions of customers, we believe we should stay engaged to try to influence decisions in a positive way and help bring people together.

"I will continue to strongly advocate on behalf of our associates and customers, and urge our elected officials to do their part to promote a more just, tolerant and diverse society."

Dan Eaton, a business ethics instructor at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business and a partner at San Diego-based law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, said that while CEOs may feel it is their civic duty to serve the president, their responsibility ultimately is to their shareholders, employees and customers.

"That's something that's always in play, and as a result some companies choose to abstain from getting involved in political roles," he said.

The majority of CEOs and business leaders who serve on the panels are condemning racism but want to retain their advisory roles.

"Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering, and we will remain active champions for these efforts," said a spokesman for Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison. "We believe it continues to be important for Campbell to have a voice and provide input on matters that will affect our industry, our company and our employees in support of growth. Therefore, Ms. Morrison will remain on the President's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative."

But many of the executives are facing growing calls to cut ties with Trump. On Tuesday afternoon, nonprofit racial justice group Color for Change said that it would pressure PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to step down from Trump's business-advisory council. The group also said it plans to target Morrison of Campbell Soup and IBM Corp. chief executive Ginni Rometty.

Lawrence Summers, once the chief economist at the World Bank and Treasury secretary for President Bill Clinton, wondered when more business leaders will distance themselves from Trump.

"After this weekend, I am not sure what it would take to get these CEOs to resign," he tweeted. "Demonizing ethnic groups? That has happened."

McMillon's response regarding Wal-Mart's role remains consistent to his stance earlier this year, when Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. The decision led Musk to resign from the manufacturing jobs council, while Iger resigned for the same reason from the strategic and policy forum.

McMillon said at the time Wal-Mart was "disappointed by the decision, and the administration is aware of that." But he said he planned to remain on the advisory council to provide input on other issues.

"Engagement gives us a chance to do good things and share a point of view, and I want to keep doing that," McMillon said at the time.

Information for this article was contributed by Josh Boak of The Associated Press and Jennifer Kaplan and Jeff Green of Bloomberg.

Business on 08/16/2017